Everything I Need

In this walk through the dark forest of addiction, 2 Peter 1:3 has been a beam of sunshine.  They are words I repeat to myself, monthly, weekly, daily, and on an as-needed basis:

"His divine power has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and excellence."

What does this mean?  What implications do these words have?

As a born again believer, I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me.  It never fails to astonish me: this is the same Spirit present at creation, the same Spirit that Christ gave to His followers after His resurrection.  That power!  That unadulterated power of God is living inside of me!  If that power resides inside of me, what can I fail to do?  Nothing.  If I set my mind to conquer this sin, I CAN do it.  The power of the Holy Spirit in me says I have all the power I need for godliness.

I have been challenged, however, in my quiet time to read the rest of the passage.  Verse 3 is mighty in its implications.  But from verse 5 to verse 7, Peter shares with me a list of attributes, character traits, qualities that I must exhibit as I continue on this path with God.  Verse 8 tells me I must apply these qualities in increasing measure -- more and more -- in order to be neither useless nor unfruitful: moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.  And if I do not apply these to my life, verse 9 tells me that I am "blind and short-sighted, having forgotten [my] purification from [my] former sins."

All of that is true, but it is not the focus today of my quiet time with God.  God has created bookends around this list, one word that comes before and after, and like bookends, holds everything together.  That one words is diligence.

I must be diligent in the increase of the application of these qualities.  That sentence sounds like something from the 1700s. 

I must be diligent to apply these qualities to my life more and more.  Better. 

I must work diligently to become a woman of godly character.  This process of sanctification -- making me more like Christ -- will never be complete until I see my Father and my Savioir in heaven, but I can work to achieve more today than yesterday or last year. 

I wanted to type there "keep walking" and those words never fail to bring VeggieTales to mind: the French peas singing, "Keep walking, but you won't knock down our wall.  Keep walking, but she isn't going to fall.  It's plain to see your brains are very small to think walking will be knocking down our wall."

But the wall did come down.

So I will keep walking.