Oh yes you do. And every time you get to know Him, you gain more. Every time you obey Him, you prove your relationship. Every time your mind is renewed in the process of the first two points, you gain His precious promises.
- Best Friends
- Say Yes
- New Thoughts
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him fwho called us to3 his own glory and excellence,4 4Â by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become gpartakers of the divine nature, hhaving escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.“
Did we just become best friends?
I love dumb humor. “Did we just become best friends” comes from the movie, Step Brothers. In this scene, the two of them answer a question with the same answer simultaneously. They’re so in awe of their unity, they proclaim, “did we just become best friends?” Then, again in unity, “Yep!” and off they go to practice karate in the garage. Imagine being so unified with Christ that you answer the questions of life simultaneously with the same answer? Obviously, nothing to do with John Stamos #iykyk.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us. The power of God, which is the Holy Spirit – the same power that raised Christ from the dead, lives in us who have answered His call and has made everything available to us that we could ever possibly need to live a God life here and forever. We lack nothing we need through the knowledge of Him. We lack nothing as we become intimately acquainted with Him – as we become best friends.
John Piper says that the Christian faith is not merely a set of doctrines to be accepted. It is a power to be experienced. It is a deeply sad thing to ask people if they know Christ and have them start listing the things they believe about Him. Believing things about Jesus Christ does not save. The devils are the most orthodox believers under heaven. It is divine power that saves through getting to know Him. If the power of God does not flow into your life and make you godly you are not Christ’s. “All who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God” (Ro 8:14+). The mark of belonging to Jesus is divine power. And the mark of power is godliness.
Be best friends. Go practice karate in the garage. Know His heart and mind.
Trust and Obey
Obedience proves the relationship. We have been called to His own glory and excellence through our obedience to Him – and when we obey Him (every time we say our next best yes to Him in any given moment), He grants us His precious and great promises so that we can be like Him.
A commentator on 1st Peter had this to say, “it’s true that a renewed mind is the difference between godliness and worldliness but only as we make those moment by moment choices to direct our steps according to that renewed thinking. Renewed thinking is good, but is not a guarantee of righteous behavior. We must continually jettison self-effort and continually rely on the power of the Spirit to enable us to carry out the directives that emanate from a renewed mind!”Â
“in order that” or (hina) is the single Greek preposition hina which marks purpose, aim, or goal. Whenever you encounter a phrase like “in order that”, “so that“, “for this reason”, “so then”, “therefore”, and similar wording, always take a minute and ask yourself questions like “For what reason? or so what?”
He grants us His promises when we get to know Him and obey Him through the power available to us because we answered His call. THE SAME POWER THAT RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD! This is all SO THAT through the promises we can be like Him and partake in His divine nature, breaking free from the corruption of the world through the renewing of our minds.
Think New Thoughts
Through obedience and continued intimate knowledge of Him #bestfriends, we reach point three. We renew our minds. This renewal helps us escape the corrupt world and it’s sinful desires or in other words, thought processes. Sinful thought processes. Thoughts influence behavior. Behavior influences thoughts. New thoughts are life changers.
In my new She Reads Truth CSB that I got on the most recent Amazon Prime days, there’s a little story to demonstrate all we’ve talked about today. A wife tells of wanting to surprise her husband by mowing the lawn for him with their new self-propelled lawn mower. However, she is quickly dismayed that this supposed easy to push machine is actually becoming increasingly harder to push and her strength is quickly diminished. She was exhausted and convinced there was something wrong with her.
So, she calls her husband to relay the details. His response? “Were you holding down the self-propelled bar?” Unbelievable! She had the power all along but didn’t know it, yield to (obey it) and renew her mind (gain confidence and appreciation). Therefore, she didn’t get to receive the sweet promises of an easy to mow lawn. What a bummer! How humbling!
Everything you and I need to live life is ours. We don’t have to muster up our own strength, stick to some beliefs and follow the rules. We need to tenaciously get to know Him, do what He calls us to, and let our minds be renewed in the process.
I don’t want to live exhausted. Do you? I want all the precious promises that make life in Him so sweet.