All Things

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness ...
2 Peter 1:3

Notice that Peter is not telling us that everything we have need of pertaining to life and godliness will be given to us. No, he says everything we need to live an abundant, fulfilled life — and everything we need to live like Christ has already been given to us.

This is radical because many of us don’t have this understanding. We think we’re still pursuing some key, and if we can find it, then we’ll be able to unlock the secret of life. We’re looking for the combination on the padlock of godliness. But Peter says something wonderful when he says God has already given us all things — not most things, not a bunch of things — but all things that pertain to life and godliness.

When my son Benjamin was born, although he wasn’t all that he will be one day, everything he needed was already packed in his little body. His job, then, was not to find additional body parts to add to himself. His job was simply to grow.

‘That’s obvious,’ you say. But a whole bunch of Christians do what I did for some years in my walk — they read, search and look for what’s missing in their faith instead of simply taking God’s Word at face value which says His divine power has given us everything we need for godliness and all we need for abundant life.

Knowing this can save us a bunch of time and a lot of money. For instead of searching bookstores and infomercials to find the seven secrets of effective people, or the way to ‘awaken the giant within’, we can simply grow in the knowledge that we’ve already been given everything we need to live abundantly and godly.

by Jon Courson