September 24: Sharing in the divine nature

His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.  (2 Peter 1:3,4 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)

This is an amazing passage. First of all Peter explains an idea that many of us have trouble understanding: as Christians we already have everything we need for a life of success and victory. When we look around at our present life this verse might seem like a joke because it frequently feels like we have far less than “everything required”. But that’s when faith needs to step in, shut down our feelings, and decide in a determined, stubborn way that we will see great things in the near future. Peter, the apostle of faith, who walked on the water, who lived with Jesus for several years and saw innumerable miracles of Jesus, and performed others himself, wrote these words by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They are true. If you’re tempted to doubt this passage based on your life experiences, your experiences are faulty, not God’s Word… not Peter.

God made us many great and precious promises, but the true goal of those promises and Jesus’ life on earth was to enable us to share in His divine nature. God wants us to be like Him. In chapter eight of The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, as the demon Screwtape tries to explain God to his nephew and junior tempter, he says: “He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself — creatures, whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own…” And that could not be truer. It must be a sickening thought for demons, but it’s a glorious reality for us. God’s power makes us godly, enables us to participate in His divine nature, turns us into replicas of Himself, and fills us to overflowing with the same Spirit that lived in the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we cooperate with the Holy Spirit we escape the filth, the corruption, the evil desires of this world, and are empowered to live for God in the midst of all the darkness and evil swirling around us. The first verse of the book of 2 Peter begins like this: “Simeon Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those who have obtained a faith of equal privilege with ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Instead of being a slave to sin and this world, Peter is a slave of the Lord Jesus — a willing slave, a happy, joyful one. Being a slave of God is not slavery at all, it is freedom. Slavery to sin and the world bring oppression and suffering, but slavery to God is the total opposite.

Decide right now that you have been called to share in God’s divine nature, based not on your goodness and merit, but on His compassion and mercy. Grab a hold of this concept and make it a reality in your life. If this seems too good to be true, do it all the more, that impression is merely a sign of how much the devil and demons are trying to block you from this great blessing.