Build Upon The Foundation
3” as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:3-8 NKJV
I am pretty sure that if you are reading this today you are someone that wants to grow in the knowledge of Jesus and you desire to partake in His divine power that is given to us. Well, good news! In 2 Peter chapter one, Peter is describing how we do this.
In reading these verses we realize there is a step by step process in discovering the fullness of and growing in this knowledge. Verses five through seven reveal this process. But it all begins in verses 3 and 4 which lays a foundation upon which everything else is laid upon. You can see the building process continue as you apply a truth and build the next layer upon the previous truth. This continues to build until we abound in His promises and are fruitful in our “knowing” Him in the deepest personal means.
Verses 3 and 4 are the foundation. Here we learn that Jesus has bestowed upon us His divine power for everything that pertains to this life. Whatever you need in this life is already yours in Jesus. That is your foundation. Next, we learn that this is backed by Jesus’ exceedingly great promises.
So those two verses are the foundation and everything that comes after that, all the layering of diligence to faith, to virtue etc., all these layers build upon one another. But they must first be built upon the foundation that Peter tells us we have in Jesus in verses 3 and 4. His divine power backed by His great promises is the foundation to build on. Believe those two principles and you have laid the foundation to layer the rest upon.
Too many people hope the Words of verses 3 and 4 are true, but they have not made it their foundation. Without that foundation, they can never build the rest out in their lives layer upon layer till they abound in the knowledge of Jesus. Without the foundation, the rest collapse when you attempt to build them in your life, which leads to inevitable frustration and disappointment.
Spend time in the Word and realize He has provided all you need through life through His promises. Upon this, you can build the rest.
J Todd Hostetler