What sort of life are you pursuing? A life of pleasure? A life of purpose? A life of significance? A good life? A quiet life? A family life? What sort of life are you pursuing?
Or are you just sitting back and letting life come at you? Are you passively and blindly accepting your every circumstance? Are you just trying to get by? Are you keeping your head down, hoping to stay out of trouble? Are you trying to become invisible?
Those who follow Jesus, those who are his friends here on earth, have received a specific kind of life. God’s life. That’s right. In Jesus, you have received the life of the one who created life, and created it with no stain of sin or death. Now the question is: How do you live that life?
One of the least read books of the Bible is 2 Peter. Be honest. When was the last time you read 2 Peter? Did you even know there was a 2 Peter? Could you find it in your Bible in less than a minute? It’s okay if you can’t.
Here’s a powerful statement from one of the least read books of the Bible: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Everything we need. God has given it to us through his divine power.
You already have everything you need to live God’s life. You don’t need to be more spiritual, you just need to pay more attention to the Spirit that already lives within you. You don’t need to be more mature, you just need to apply the wisdom of the Scriptures–which you already have access to–to the trials and failures of your life. You don’t need to know more, you just need to press more deeply into the knowledge of God fully revealed through Jesus Christ.
You don’t need more hit points. You don’t need to level up. You don’t need another heart-piece. You already have all you need to live God’s life, the godly life in Christ Jesus. You have it through faith in Jesus. You have it because God called you to it, according to his own goodness and glory. You have it because the Holy Spirit lives within you, and he is talking to you all the time. You have it, because as Peter says in the very next verse, God has given you his very great and precious promises. What are those promises? They are Jesus himself!
As if this wasn’t enough, Peter goes on: [God] has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. You can participate in the divine nature, right now, on earth, in the same clothes you’re wearing today. That’s the invitation of God through the fulfillment of his promises–to live his life, to escape the corruption of evil desires. And you don’t need anything besides what God has already given you. That’s the beauty and power of the Gospel. So go out and live God’s life today, and live it without fear or insecurity. When you have Jesus, you have everything you need.