Meditation Thought: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:3-8)
To become partakers of the Divine Nature, these qualities are listed in 2 Peter 1:
- faith
- goodness (or virtue)
- knowledge
- self-control
- perseverance
- godliness
- mutual affection (or brotherly kindness)
- love
Though, particularly at times, these qualities may be difficult – they are not impossible. Not impossible because God makes them possible through:
- Creating us in His image – therefore it is in our nature to be imbued with these qualities
- When, in our eagerness to use our freedom, we misjudge our capacities, He rescues us and teaches us a more balanced, true perspective of both our inherent abilities and our constant dependence upon Him as “the Original” – only when we constantly “check in” to compare ourselves with His character can we have any conception of our progress in maturing.
He does not intend for us to dwell on how far we have to go to perfectly reflect His character, for that discourages us, but He intends for us to rejoice that we are moving in the direction of maturing into developing a character which reflects our inheritance accurately, with less adulteration from habits or mannerisms adopted from our flights into expressions of our rebellious freedom, and of adoption of characteristics found in places other than the Divine Creator’s Perfection: His Ideal, His Perfect Will.
Meditations of Marie's Heart 