...His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (most of 2 Peter 1:2-4 NKJV)
My high school English teacher would have told Peter that this verse was a run-on sentence, and I'll admit it includes a lot of words (108). It also includes multiple ideas. Several of them are very important. Every day I find competing new ideas vying for my attention. Some come attended by massive advertisement or intense buzz. Either of these can delude me into thinking they are important when they really aren't. The yeast of digital noise in all its many forms has often made the the unimportant swell into my view, inflated by nothing more than its own hot air. The words and ideas in this verse come to us by the inspiration of God and although we often have to slog trough a swampland of unimportant secular noise to get to them, its worth the effort. Some days I feel like I've received so much information that I've got ideas growing out of my head. How can I prioritize all of this information?
(Oh yeah, His thoughts are higher than my thoughts...)
(Oh yeah, His thoughts are higher than my thoughts...)
His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him... If I already have all things that pertain to life and godliness, what can an IPhone5 gain me? Or a half an hour watching Honey Boo Boo? Siri is cool, but she can't give me anything that pertains to life. If these aren't included in the all things that pertain to life and godliness, I can be assured I don't need them (no matter how long the line is at the Apple Store). In the past I've been willing to try anything except knowing Him. I've been willing to follow every new trend instead of following Him, I've been willing to worship at every alter except His. In all that willingness I was pursuing an illusion. It all left me empty. I found not one single thing that pertained to life.
...having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. The Greek word translated here as lust is epithumia. It means desire, longing, wanting the forbidden. If the corruption is found in the world through desiring what is forbidden, what can set me free from those desires? How can I be lifted above my most base nature? Or in Paul's questioning words, -- O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Followed by his answer -- I thank God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24,25 NKJVWhen corrupt ideas try to penetrate my spiritual defenses how can I sort them out, mark them as useless and delete them from my memoric hard drive? God's mercy is fresh every morning. So also must be my submission to Him. My daily submission will lead to daily reconnection through prayer. My daily prayer will refresh my hunger for His Word. Consumption of His Word will stoke my spirit. Submitted, reconnected, refreshed, and stoked by His Word, I'll be a partaker of the (His) divine nature and I'll have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust for one more day.
And if I fail today and am captivated by useless noise into following the corruption that is in the world through lust, tomorrow the sun will rise and so will heaven's fresh mercy. So will forgiveness. So will Holy Spirit, speaking in my heart, offering again exceedingly great and precious promises....
Its a new day. Will you follow Siri? Honey Boo Boo? Whose ideas will captivate your attention today?
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