2 PETER 1:3-4 – His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

THEME OF THE DAY. GOD’S PROMISES IN ACTION. Christians are people who rely on God’s promises. We have never seen God or touched God, but we know Him and that through the Word of His promises. Some have counted the promises in the Bible and come up with 3583! That is a lot of promises!!!! As we rejoice and rely upon God’s promises, it is very easy to become one dimensional in our grasp of God’s promises. Let me illustrate. How do we see God’s promises? For the most part, don’t we view and embrace them for what they give to us? Things like promised strength, promised comfort and promised help in living in this sin-cursed? And that is biblical and right. He has promised all these things, but if that is our view of God’s promises, what they do for us, we are missing the other side of the purposes of God’s promises. In today’s scripture, the Apostle Peter lays a couple of things God’s promises are designed to do for us beyond strength, comfort, and help.

First, we are God’s children because of His promises – “He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” We are born again by faith, which in essence, is total reliance and abandonment upon the Word of promise in what God has done for us in the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus. We are Christians because we trust the promise of God, in and through Christ, that our sins are dealt with once and for all (Romans 3:21-26). New birth comes through the promise of God. That is why assurance can never be based on experience, feelings, or anything else about or in us. Assurance is based on the promises of God who cannot lie (Titus 1:2). He said, “My precious and great promises have made you partakers of My divine nature.”

Next, we are to live as God’s children, free from sinful corruption, by His promises – “so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world”. How do we defeat temptation when it comes? By the promise of the Spirit’s power – “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). See the promised strength? Obey the Word and watch the promised power from Him who gave us the Word (the Holy Spirit) come to us to defeat all temptations to sin.

Another application in the Christian life lived by promises concerns our desires – “so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” How does a Christian develop a life of God-pleasing desires? Promises. Here is a great promise from God to have our desires changed from sinful self-serving and fleshly to holy, Christ-honoring, and spiritual – “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). And these desires will not be our fleshly ones, but Christ’s desires. As we delight in Him, He writes His desires upon our hearts. He does so according to His promise.

Beloved, the Christian life is all about God’s promises. He gives us new life by promises, and then prompts us to live that new life by leaning upon and obeying His promises. May we prove Him to be true to His promises by our obedience to them.

PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for Your promises that not only comfort me, but motivate me to love-based obedience.”

QUOTE: “God’s promises are to be embraced for comfort and put into action by our obedience”