Partakers of God’s Divine Nature

October 19, 2015

Partakers of God’s Divine Nature

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.

2 Peter 1:3

An editorial in a major newspaper, following the recent visit of Pope Francis, summed up the Pope’s message, and the essence of all Christian doctrine, as simply being nice to the poor. Umm. I’m sure Jesus wants us to be nice to the poor, but was it necessary for him to experience the passion and crucifixion to establish the Christian church on such a thin foundation?

Some followers of Christ put all of their emphasis on Jesus’ mission as saving us from hell. I can see their point, but my sense is that Jesus is not so much saving us from hell, as he is saving us for eternal life with his Father. If you follow this line of thought, then you can see that we are also being saved, in the here and now, so that Jesus can be made visible in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:11 NRSV)

Because we belong to Jesus, we have “become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). I believe this is what Peter had in mind when he wrote, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.” “Everything we need” is Christ in us. When we embrace Christ as our way, the truth and our life, we become partakers of the divine nature which empowers us to “supplement (our) 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). Can you see? When you are partakers of God’s divine nature, you will be so much more than simply being nice to the poor; you will be Christ to the poor!

The Apostle Paul teaches us that “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13). What pleases our Father is for us to hold still so He can form Christ, His divine nature, within us.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.