The thing that stood out to me first was the statement Peter made in the middle of verse 3, “…we receive all of this by coming to know Him.” When we seek Him we find Him, when we ask Him, He answers us, this is what is awesome about God, and He wants us to come to Him. Our growth is limited by our desire to learn and understand. God has made it easy for us to get the information, but our own desires to lead our own lives hinder our walk and growth.
When we look at everything Jesus has done for us and what He has promised to do for us we should be motivated to open God’s word so we can grow. It says we can share His Devine nature and when we surrender to Him we can escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. How do we stop living for ourselves and stop getting caught up in the same worldly desires? We transform into a new creation who is seeking Christ- like behaviors. I like this thought by Warren Wiersbe, “The Christian life begins with faith, but that faith must lead to spiritual growth. Faith leads to growth, and growth leads to practical results in life and service.”
Look at what Peter continues to say in verses 5-7, “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.” Wow, that looks like our walk needs some effort from us to grow. The more we seek the more we can understand and the more we understand the more we transform and live what we see Christ do in God’s word.
Our excitement and our passion for knowing more is what allows the Spirit in us to be loud and clear. Look what Peter goes on to say in verse 8, “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are called to make disciples and that takes us constantly working and living out our faith so people can see something that looks like Christ. I love what Paul tells Titus in Titus chapter 2 verses 9-10, “Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way.”
Look how (in the New Living Translation) many of the epistles start out like this: Philippians, “This letter is from Paul and Timothy slaves of Christ Jesus.” Titus, “This letter is from Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” James, “This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter, This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.” Jude, “This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.” As we open our hearts to know Christ we can surely follow the teaching of Paul to Titus and do our best to please Him. Let’s not be comfortable just knowing Jesus lets belong to Him and be a slave to His teachings. Amen