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, (ESV)
We see that by
God's power we have everything we need to live and more than that to
live Godly lives, in truth once we have turned from Simon's into
Peter's through faith and are growing by the work done in us by
Christ's sanctifying work which leads to and is guided by a greater
intimacy with God, we find that the exercising of our works of faith
is amplified by His divine power which is infinite both in strength
and duration. It is sufficient, no more than sufficient, for anything
we need and again we see that it is based on and comes by intimacy
with him, and again it is not initiated by ourselves but by his
calling us. And what does he call us to ‘to his own glory and
excellence’ in other words echoed elsewhere to be perfect as He is
perfect.
I want to
stress again that this perfection is not something we can claim as
being a result of anything we do for we are clothed with Christ's
righteousness it is 'HlS OWN glory and excellence’ which he gives
to us freely not something we become in and of our own strength. It
is his glory It is his excellence. This should give us a sense of
responsibility in that we need to recognise our own unsuitability and
inability to attain, but it should give us a sense of comfort and
peace and joy knowing that He does this work for us, this should free
us to do the work He calls us to knowing that it relies not on our
own strength but his, if we move forward trusting in Him he provides
the acceleration and power to reach His goals.
The fact that He
chooses to use us as part of achieving His will and proclaiming His
presence in this world should give us a sense of awe and joy that
surpasses any fear, pain and sadness we may feel in this temporary
abode that will soon be over as we pass into our eternal home bathed
in his Glory and grace.
