May God bless you with his special favor and wonderful peace as you come to know Jesus, our God and Lord, better and better. As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness! - 2 Peter 1:2-3
Coming to Jesus is the first step of salvation. The next step, which stretches into a long relational walk throughout our life, is “to know Jesus, our God and Lord, better and better” (2 Peter 1:2).
How is this accomplished? “As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life” (2 Peter 1:3). Certainly this is accomplished in our personal devotional life but also in a local church in fellowship with other believers. The problem is, what we may hear in church may work against our knowing Jesus better.
As we read the Bible and get to know Jesus better, we will be better able to discern what is true or false—whether it comes from outside the church or within. When we are looking for a church fellowship to join—and we should—we should ask if it teaches that Jesus died and rose again and that he is the only way to heaven. We should inquire if it teaches that the Bible is the inspired word of God. We must study the Scriptures, and compare what is being taught with what we have studied (Acts 17:10-12).
Growing in Christ means that we will “become productive and useful” (2 Peter 1:8)—we will begin to exhibit the character qualities of Christ’s disciple (2 Peter 1:5-7). We can ask God to teach us more about himself. Then we will be able to discern truth from error and can join a church that teaches the Bible accurately and well.
For Further Study: 2 Peter 1:1-21
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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