When we accept Christ as our Savior, we receive everything we need to live a godly life in Christ. “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness….” (2 Peter 1:3, NASB). Note that we have received not some things but everything pertaining to life and godliness.
It may be hard for us to believe it, but this is true about babes in Christ also. In the beginning, they may not even know how to find the book of Numbers in the Bible. Oftentimes, they don’t know what to do as a Christian, so they do what they know. Nevertheless, they have been fully equipped to live a godly life in Christ.
But how does this biblical truth influence how you live? If you are a Christian who lacks patience, for instance, what impact does the verse above have on your conduct? Do you try to justify your lack of patience by saying it’s just the way God made you? Or will you allow the truth of the Word of God to govern your behavior in the area of patience?
Perhaps you were born with a bad case of impatience. Or maybe you became that way over time. But when you became born again, God changed you and gave you everything you need to live a godly life in Christ. And I think we would agree that impatience is not characteristic of godliness.
The point is that if you allow the Word to dictate how you live, you will not keep living the way you were before you met the Lord. The key word here is allow.
Your Flesh Versus the Spirit
News flash. Being blessed with everything pertaining to life and godliness does not mean you won’t have struggles in the flesh. Consider these words from Paul the apostle:
“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”
Galatians 5:17, NASB
Based upon this verse, a tug of war exists within each of us—even after we become a Christian. Accordingly, we all have shortcomings and wrong desires in our flesh. God did not change all of that when He saved us. We are still clothed in a corruptible body.
But when you read the Bible and it reveals things about you because of your relationship with Christ, you should allow those truths and not how you feel to dictate how you live.
Why? Because what the Bible says about us as a new creation is the truth about us. In fact, the Word of God is the only means we have of knowing the truth about who we are in Christ. The Bible is the official record of what God did to us when He saved us.
I used patience as an example in this post. But no matter what area you struggle with as a Christian, receive the truth about it as found in the Word of God. You don’t have to live according to the desires of the flesh. You have been given everything you need to live a godly life in Christ.
Copyright © 2024 by Frank King. All rights reserved.