Jump Start # 1339

2 Peter 1:3 “see that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who call us by His own glory and excellence.”

  Our verse today from Peter’s second letter is such that ought to give us confidence and assurance. God has provided. God has provided everything pertaining to life and godliness. God doesn’t leave gaps which we must fill. God doesn’t get us close and hope we can finish it up. God provides.

There are a few conclusions that we can make from Peter’s statement here.

First, If God indeed has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness then there is nothing more to come. This is hard for many to get in our day. They are looking for something else. They are looking for God to tell them who to marry, where to live, which job to take. Folks are looking for signs from above. They are gravitating towards divine nudges and divine feelings and promptings. It is not uncommon to hear someone say, “I feel that God is leading me to this.” More and more are putting stock in these feelings rather than the revealed word of God.

The written word of God is never enough for some. They want something else. They want something more. They want something personal. God never has led people before with an inner feeling. There was a time when God used dreams, visions or spoke to people directly. When He did, the people always knew that it was God. There was never an uncertain or an unclear message. However, those days are declared over. Today, He speaks through His Son. Putting your hope in feelings can lead a person down a crooked path. Feelings change. Feelings come and go. God doesn’t lead us that way. Peter’s audience had everything pertaining to life and godliness.

Second, God’s will and message remains the same for every generation. He wants us to seek Him, honor Him, obey Him and walk with Him all the days of our lives. God’s message doesn’t change. It’s the same in peace as it is in wartimes. It is the same here as it is there. It’s the same for Peter’s people as it is for our people.

The message of God is the written word of God. This is what was preached. This is what was copied, shared, studied and known throughout the ages. This is what we have learned, memorized, loved and can go back to over and over. You can’t do that with the inner promptings that some claim are happening today. You can’t put your finger on it. It changes from person to person. The meaning changes from day to day. It’s fuzzy. It’s confusing. And typically, it leads to opening doors that the word of God has closed. Dissatisfied hearts can take comfort in believing that God is now allowing and opening doors that have been closed for generations. Enlightened souls, being prompted by divine feelings, now believe that they are on a new mission with God. They are finding things that no one else has ever seen before. New ways to worship. New fellowships. New missions for the church. New ways. New thoughts. It pulls in a young crowd. It’s raw and exciting. No one knows where this will all lead to. All of this is ignoring our verse today. There isn’t anything new. Peter’s people were granted all things pertaining to life and godliness. If Peter’s people didn’t have it, then maybe we shouldn’t have it.

Every generation finds new folks who want to push the envelopes with new thoughts. They want to introduce new ideas. They tire of the old ways and want all things new. Radicals among them will experiment with finding ways to make wrongs right. Sometimes this is disguised by claiming, “God has led me to this.” A person can’t argue with God. If God is behind it, as radical as it may seem, then, it must be right. But this “God leading,” is often nothing more than feelings. This “God leading,” ignores the thrust of our verse today. How can God lead us into new areas if He has already granted EVERYTHING pertaining to life and godliness?  Either He hasn’t granted us EVERYTHING, or else, He is not leading us by our feelings.

This one verse is important. It says so much. It helps us. It reminds us that we are not missing out. There isn’t something out there yet to be discovered. We are not going to come up short because we didn’t have all the information that we needed. God has granted everything. Nothing is missing. Nothing isn’t known. It’s been there all along in the word of God.

Those thoughts ought to calm our spirits and drive us back to the word of God. Those thoughts ought to raise a caution flag to those who claim God is leading them and it’s not from the word of God. This generation is not going to find something that the last generation didn’t know. This generation isn’t going to have some insights that have never been found.

We ought to listen less to those who are not serious about verses like this, and put our trust in what God has promised and God has revealed. God is good. He’s not going to leave you stranded on a rock trying to figure things out on your own. Seek Him, Jesus said, and you will find Him. You will find Him where He has always been, in that wonderful revealed word of God.

Read it. Love it. Follow it. Know it. That’s the key for this generation, as it has ever since Peter’s days.

Roger