The Power Within

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

LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE isn’t difficult—it’s impossible! We learn what God desires, we strive to align our priorities with His will, we meet with other men to keep us on track, and still we stumble. Even Paul, as mature and sold-out in his faith as he was, lamented the pull of sin in his life (Romans 7:15-24). Yet we have this promise from the apostle Peter that “God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.” But what does that entail? Read more, memorize more, serve more, pray more? Is that what it takes?

The answer isn’t found in our effort; it’s found in our relationship with God, who has “called us to himself.” When we accept Christ’s gift of salvation, we receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts. This is the divine power we now have (Acts 1:8). How we nurture this new relationship will affect our growth in the Christian life. If we go back to our old ways, we’ll get nowhere. If we try our best without God, we’ll fail. But when we invest the effort to know God through study, prayer, and obedience, He does a transforming work in our minds that we can’t do for ourselves. Our desires align with His (Romans 8:5), we make sound judgments (2 Timothy 1:7), and we better recognize His escape hatches when temptation strikes (1 Corinthians 10:13). Best of all, we experience real life. Not just survival—life! Growing, fruit-bearing, accomplishing-our-God-given-purpose kind of life!

BOTTOM LINE

God doesn’t call us to be holy and then leave us to flop and flail. He gives us His Spirit to transform us into sin-resistant, fruit-bearing men of purpose.

Moment of Strength: Zechariah 4:6