Life and Godliness: A DEVOTIONAL
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The Apostle Peter says that God has “given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness…” (II Peter 1:3). In other words, we have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. God has given to us all that we need to know about life and godliness.
What a timely passage for this mixed-up and ungodly nation!
The first thing to capture our attention here is that God is a giver. He is not a TAKER, but a GIVER. Some people are only takers. They are happy with us so long as we allow them to remain takers. Some children excel in the matter of taking from their parents, but are selfish pigmies in giving to them.
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But God is a giver. He gives us both the good and the bad: “Sending rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Every good gift is from above: “Every good and perfect gift is from above…” (James 1:17). The greatest gift from above is Jesus Christ (John 3:16).
To learn that God was a giver must have been a source of comfort and encouragement to the primitive Christians to whom Peter here addresses. Not only were these people drawn from the lowly classes of society, but they often had to endure contempt of the “great,” as Christians do today. But they were taught, as we are taught, that we have in our Creator, a Divine Giver. And He has given bountifully unto us “all things that pertain to life and godliness.”
Life
God has given unto us all things that pertain to LIFE. His word tells us not only of the origin of life, but its days and destination. Man is not the product of evolution, but of Divinity (Genesis 1:27; 2:7; Job 33:4).
Those who deny that Divinity had any part in creation, assert that biological life occurred by simple chance through evolution without intelligent design. This is ridiculous to people who study the awesome complexity of animal and human life. If we will honestly consider the evidence, then we are forced to conclude that God has created this incredible design, for example, consider the migratory pattern of birds. A Maux Shearwater bird was captured in Wales and brought to America in a crate. The scientist released the bird in Boston and it flew across the Atlantic Ocean to Wales, a distance of more than 3,000 miles, and did it in only 12 days. This could not have happened unless God planted within the bird the knowledge of where its home was located thousands of miles away. Did you ever hear of a duck or goose stopping off at a local Chamber of Commerce and asking for directions home? This example is only one of many of how absurd it is to believe in evolution.
But, still, the evolutionists believe that the complex systems found in living creatures have been formed as a result of random chance. Here is what the Bible says about a human’s complex system, and that is, that God did it: “for thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:13, 14).
If you think this miracle of design has happened in animals and humans by random chance, then you probably still believe in the tooth fairy.
God has not only explained to us the origin of life, but how to live it: “for he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile” (1 Peter 3:10). Many a person has gotten himself into a tight place because of a loose tongue.” Here Peter warns against throwing one’s life off course by a tongue that is out of control. Then Paul warned against evil with the following words: “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (I Thessalonians 5:22).
Then, of course, God has revealed to us that we will have to give an account of life (II Corinthians 5:10). Life is a gift, not to be squandered but to be used to the glory of the One who gave it to us. Life is short; use it wisely, for one day it must be relinquished.
GODLINESS
God has also revealed unto us all things that pertain to Godliness. Everywhere one turns today, people are deploring the increasing ungodliness of our Nation, and they are right in so doing it. And it seems that many are not ashamed of their behavior, which is the way it was in Old Testament times (Jeremiah 6:15).
If America and the church would open their Bibles, then they would know the truth about godliness (II Peter 1:3). Furthermore, they would also come to know the truth about ungodliness (II Peter 2:5, 6).
There may be hard times in life, but God feeds the godly with honey out of the rock. All of us know that honey is the sweetest thing that nature can produce; and that a rock is one of the hardest things in nature. God said in Psalm 81:16 that He would feed His people with “honey out of the rock.” God was not talking in a literal sense. He was simply saying, “You will have hard places in life – running up against countless rocks. But hang in; don’t be discouraged, you are going to experience sweetness out of the hard experiences of life. It pays to live a godly life.
God has revealed to us in His Book all things that pertain to life and godliness. Those who open it discover what God is talking about.
