Opening Verse
"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." (2 Peter 1:3, KJV)
The Message
Most of us pray like God is holding out on us. We ask for peace at home, for a better marriage, for a clean start, for strength to change, as if we are asking for something brand new. But the Word says He has already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. It is not missing. It is waiting on us to grow into it.
Think about a father who hands his son the keys to a truck. The truck belongs to the boy now, but it cannot do him any good until he learns to drive. The gift is real. The growing is what makes it useful. That is how it is with God. We do not get new things so much as we discover what He already put in our hands and learn how to walk in it.
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord." (2 Peter 1:2, KJV)
That is also why we give thanks even when things look bad. If He has already provided, then thanks is not pretending. It is agreeing with what is true before we can see it.
"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18, KJV)
A life that does not look normal
God did not just give us rules. He gave us promises, and those promises let us share in His own nature. If our lives look exactly like everyone else's, same fights, same habits, same results, then we are living off the world instead of off His promises. A peaceful home and a godly marriage sound like a fairy tale to a lot of people. To the believer who learns to stand on the promises, they are normal.
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:4, KJV)
Notice what the corruption comes from: wrong desires. So many men go wrong chasing things God never put in their hearts. The world is always selling us something to want. Part of growing up is paying attention to what we desire and asking where that desire came from.
Every day is a choice
Here is where it gets practical. Who we become is a choice we make every morning. Who we marry is a choice. How we respond in an argument is a choice. Nobody spins a wheel and just gets what they get. We choose discipline or we do not. We choose maturity or we do not. And the kind of person we choose to walk with should be someone making those same good choices for themselves.
"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." (Deuteronomy 30:19, KJV)
That is why marriage is not for children, no matter their age. A child wants the candy. A grown man is willing to stand in the kitchen and cook the vegetables. Marriage is mostly ordinary days, routines, and hard conversations, with a few bright moments along the way. It takes someone who can listen without getting defensive, admit when the other person has a point, and look in the mirror at their own flaws.
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11, KJV)
The peacemaker
One of the strongest pictures of that maturity is the man who picks up the phone and makes it right. Pride says, "Let them call me." Love says, "Life is short, and I do not want this split passed down to the next generation." Choosing peace means being willing to give up being right, give up winning the point, and give up the last word, so the relationship can last. That kind of man is ready for marriage, and more than that, he looks like his Father.
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." (Matthew 5:9, KJV)
Being a peacemaker is not weakness. It is family resemblance. It shows whose Spirit lives in you.
Patience is a weapon
Patience shows that we trust God. When we want to rush a decision, a relationship, or a move, patience says, "Lord, I will wait until You show me." People may push for a quick answer. The enemy pushes too. He is restless, always moving, looking for someone to trip up. But when we stay patient and stay submitted, his schemes run out of time, and he moves on.
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8, KJV)
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7, KJV)
The building blocks of a man
All of this comes together in a ladder Peter lays out. It starts with faith, and then we keep adding, one step on top of another.
"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." (2 Peter 1:5-7, KJV)
These are the studs and the foundation of the man God is building. Faith is the seed. Goodness, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, kindness, and love are what grow from it. They line up with the fruit of the Spirit, and fruit is not handed to you finished. It has to grow.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23, KJV)
Love here means seeking what is best for the other person. Sometimes that means holding back the "I told you so" because the person already knows, and saying it would only make us feel good. Can we hold our tongue, or do we have to prove we were right?
Peter says these things must keep growing. Our self-control should not be the same as it was in January. Our faith should not look the way it did a year ago. And the man without these qualities is nearsighted. He only sees what looks good right now, like the expensive wedding that starts a marriage in debt, and never thinks about five years down the road.
"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." (2 Peter 1:8-9, KJV)
We cannot give what we do not have. We cannot expect a wife, a child, or a friend to show qualities we refuse to build in ourselves. We model it first. Every bit of effort we put into these qualities is like learning to drive that truck. It unlocks what God already handed us.
What This Means
God is not holding back. Everything you need for a godly life is already yours through knowing Him. The bridge between the promise and the life is your daily choices: choosing peace over pride, patience over hurry, and growth over staying the same. Start with faith, then add to it on purpose, a little more each week. As those qualities grow, your home, your relationships, and your walk with God start to look different from the world around you.
Think About This
- What am I asking God for that He may have already given me, if I would grow into it?
- Looking at the list in 2 Peter 1:5-7, which quality have I neglected the most, and what is one effort I can make this week?
- Is there a relationship where my pride is keeping me from being the peacemaker?
- Where am I rushing ahead when God is asking me to be patient?
- Am I choosing to become the kind of person I hope to walk alongside?
Prayer
Father, thank You that Your divine power has already given us everything we need for life and godliness. Open our eyes to what is already in our hands. Help us choose well every day: who we will be, how we will lead, and how we will love. Make us peacemakers. Give us patience that trusts You. Remove every desire that did not come from You, and give us pure motives. Help us add to our faith goodness, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, kindness, and love, more this week than last. Go ahead of us as we share Your Word, and prepare hearts to receive it. Finish the work You started in us. In Jesus' name, amen.
Closing Verse
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6, KJV)