"Do you want a “fruitless” life?… I don’t!”

April 28

Read: 2 Peter 1:3-15

"Do you want a “fruitless” life?… I don’t!”

Awareness of our “clean slate” in Jesus Christ is what leads to our transformation. This is how we live in our “newness of life” that comes from Christ. (cf. Rom. 6) This is what brings about behavior change in us. This is counter-intuitive in many ways. It is tempting to think that if we acknowledge our TRUE identity in Christ - our forgiveness and unconditional love as children of God - then it would lead to MORE SIN. The scriptures teach the opposite:

“His (God’s) divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us…” (2 Peter 1:3)

It is through the “knowledge of him who called us” that we utilize and take hold of what has already been given to us from God. It is not by more rules that we live into this new life. It is not by fixating on our past mistakes. It is not by contemplating how far from perfect we still are in our actions. This is not the biblical recipe for growth and transformation. You have already been given all things as it pertains to life and godliness - these come “through the knowledge of the one who called you.” (cf. 2 Peter 1:3 again)

This is how we “escape from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”. (v. 4) This reality is crucial, it is how we “keep from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v. 8) Do you want to be “unfruitful”? Do you want to be “ineffective”? The obvious answer is “NO” to both of those. The passage tells us that the knowledge of Christ - “the one who calls” - particularly remembering our forgiveness - is the correct starting point. When we lose site of this - that is when we are corrupted by the world and sinful desire, and become ineffective and unfruitful. How do we know that the awareness of our forgiveness in Christ is central? Look at 2 Peter 1:9

“For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” (v.9)

Do you see it?! When we forget that we have been “cleansed from our former sins” we become so “nearsighted that we are blind”. (v.9) When we forget we are cleansed from our former sins, we cannot live into the qualities that safeguard us against ineffective and fruitless lives. We forsake what has been GIVEN TO US in Christ - “ALL THINGS as it pertains to life and godliness”. There will be no transformation of the people of without the consistent reminding of our having been forgiven in Christ which is central in our ability to experience Christ and to know him. No amount of guilt, or rules, or “accountability”. or manipulation will yield the EFFECTIVE and FRUITFUL lives that have been given to us in Christ. Yesterday we learned: it is God’s GRACE that changes us. Today: it is our knowledge of Christ and an awareness of our having been forgiven… our “clean slate” … that transforms our life and behavior in true and lasting way! This is how we escape the corruption of the world. This is how we are effective for Christ. This is how we will have fruitful lives. Do not forget who you are! Love you guys. - JDP