God has provided everything to help you live a godly life
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.’
(Hebrews 12:14)
The author of the book of Hebrews mentions that ‘holiness’ is key to seeing the Lord. Unholy people will not be able to see the Lord and they will be cut off from living in the eternal presence of God when this world would have ended.
There are many subjects discussed in the Scriptures and not all subjects have the same level of relevance.
In terms of practicality, being able to live in eternity and in the presence of the Lord should be the top priority of every human being.
Since the lack of holiness will disqualify anyone from seeing the Lord, holiness must be top priority.
Holiness is defined as a state of consecration for God. In other words, when someone says that they want to be holy, they are stating that they want to reserve and dedicate their lives for God and His will. Holiness directs a person to live according to what God loves and wants.
God hates sin. Since God hates sin, a person who dedicates themselves to God cannot adopt a sinful lifestyle.
Sin brings desecration.
Sin is not just about the most well known vices such as adultery, theft, lies, forbication, ect.. Sin includes any practice that goes against the will of God. I wrote a clear message on the subject at this link: ‘ A comprehensive definition of sin’
As much as we could write great things about holiness, we should not think that holiness is easily achieved. If it was easy, then there would be more people walking on the path of life and less people heading towards perdition. However, Jesus said:
‘ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’
(Matthew 7:13-14)
Notice that the path of Christianity is an unpopular narrow road with many difficulties, but the path of ungodliness is popular and easy to access.
Since it is not easy to live in godliness, God has also provided a solution. In 2 Peter 1:3, the Bible says:
‘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.’
It means that in order to live a successful godly life, God has provided all the things we need through our knowledge of Him.
What does it mean?
God’s provision helps in preventing us from committing to a sinful lifestyle. This is not to say that blessed people can never commit sin. I am just trying to say that the likelihood of committing sin becomes low when God’s provision is available and used.
For example, married people have the opportunity to stay out of fornication by sexually enjoying each other. In this example, a good marriage is the provision given to live a godly lifestyle.
A person blessed with a paying job is less likely to commit petty theft at a shop. In this case the job is the provision given by God to assist a person in living godly.
Pay attention: ‘I use the term ‘less likely to commit sin’ because in spite of being blessed, many Christians still commit sins.
The second part of 2 Peter 1:3 states that ‘through our knowledge of Him’ God provides all that is needed for us to live a Godly life.
This means that the provision He gives us is influenced by the knowledge each one of us has about God. There are Chrisitians who never experience any form of provision from God because they have no knowledge of who God is. Even worse, they don’t even bother to add knowledge about God in their lives.
The knowledge we have about God will influence the provision we receive from Him. There are some Christians who live in dirt poverty because they believe that God endorses such levels of poverty. The knowledge they have about God affects the provision they access.
There are some Christians communities who refuse to stand against crime, wars, rape, and all sorts of bad things because they believe that those bad things were sent and endorsed by God. The knowledge they have about God has influenced their abilities to receive the power to make change in their societies.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are Christians like me who believe that:
Jesus has given us authority over all demons (Mark 16:17)
Jesus came to give life and life in abundance (John 10:10)
The word of God is profitable (2 Timothy 3:16)
God gives a way of escape in times of temptation ( 1 Corinthians 10:13)
We shall not live in lack because the Lord is our Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)
If I meditate, confess and practice the Scriptures, I will prosper (Joshua 1:8)
There are many other Bible passages revealing the thoughts of God regarding His provision for us.
We all need to know what God’s thoughts are and not the thoughts of men regarding our lives.
Many suffer and easily succumb to temptations because they never have access to God provisions in their lives. Others have a poor and evil knowledge of who God is and as a result, they believe that God enjoys watching them living in lack and bust.
Let’s elevate our Knowledge through the Scripture and let us be bold to access the Godly provision that will help us live in holiness.
I want you to be holy so that you will be able to live in eternity and in the presence of God.