September 21, 2016 – 2 Peter 1:4

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desire.  2 Peter 1:4God gave us life.  Through His Power He has given us a way to escape earthly corruption of human desires trying to control us.  He promises to share his divine nature with us.  It is a way, a process, we learn as we learned to walk as little ones.  We needed a hand to hold on to, encouragement along the way, and celebration of successful steps.  All along the way, learning to respond to God’s promises, we need relationships, first, with our Lord Jesus and then relationships with others who love God, too.We want see examples of godly living, and we want to know the steps to achieve this.  How do we know, unless someone teaches us?  Each day we take vitamin supplements for our bodies,  but do we take Bible-learning supplements?  Instant learning is impossible,  how we choose to live each day leads us to godly lives.  Supplement faith with moral excellence.  Believing and choosing godly living includes every aspect of our lives.  Next we study for knowledge and we know the why for self-control.  Self-control leads us to patient endurance, not lashing others with angry words or impulsive actions.  With patient endurance comes godliness with brotherly affection with love for everyone.We know how much God loves us, and we put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love, live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. I John 4:16-17 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  2 Peter 1:5-7