Really look at what it says, "...we have receive all of this by coming to know Him..." The more we seek and desire to grow the more we will grow. It is not hard, but we must choose to make it our number one priority. Verse 4 goes on to say, “And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” We can escape our sinful nature because of what God has given us, when we embrace the promises and we believe they are true we can say no to our flesh. This will take us giving Him our time in prayer, worship, and opening His word. As we read on in verses 5-7 we see how our lives can be changed and the steps that will continually help us. “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your 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.”
All these things lead to us living out a life that resembles Jesus Christ and opens the doors to have people see love not hypocrisy. I love how verse 8 tells how it will help us be more useful in our knowledge. “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We can't sit back and hope all will be good, we need to constantly be working and sharing so we can be the best example for others to see Christ in the world. As we keep reading we can see how this all makes a difference in our lives.
Verse 9 says, “But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.” If we have been made new we should be new and not stuck in our old ways of thinking. I want to end with reading verses 10-11 which should stick in our head and settle in our hearts. “So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Amen