3 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. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.
According to this passage, there are three main things we have become blind to in our moments of being stuck spiritually: our identity, God’s provision and the transformation process. We see in verse 3 everything that we need for godliness has been given to us. The provision for a godly life is Christ himself (Galatians 2:20). Living within us is the Holy Spirit who guides us in truth. We have to remind ourselves of the great and precious promises (v.4) that come solely through the grace of Christ.
Meeting resistance in our growth process leaves us shell shocked and we don’t know what to do. It is devastating when an individual has lost heart and hope due to hitting the wall. By taking out our heart the enemy takes us out. When we remain stuck we decline the invitation to share in God’s divine nature and respond to his promises (v.4). What we have to understand is that even though we might be surprised with our struggles God is not. His agenda is making us holy and developing his character within us. God uses every experience for our growth.
How do we fight against this lack of hope and begin to gain traction towards forward momentum with our One Word? The first, and most critical step is to cling to the truth that we are full in Christ, made alive in Christ and set free through Christ. This changes everything, including how we approach being stuck. No longer will we depend on ourselves to produce change (Galatians 3:2-3). Understanding that true change only occurs within, we will fight the urge to fix the external and allow the Holy Spirit to change our hearts. This is met with the most resistance internally. If we are honest we want character without failure, love without risk, and lessons without scars. In a way we’ve become far too satisfied with being stuck because we love comfort. There is something in our heart that avoids pain and having to admit the biggest problem we face is ourselves and not our circumstances.
For this very reason Peter states in verse 5 that we must make every effort to add to our faith. What he is saying is that we need to position ourselves to believe the real challenge of Christian growth is the challenge of personal responsibility. We need to create a path out of our rut that has vision. To begin, you have to identify your desires and figure out why you are stuck in the first place. We combat this through protecting our hearts (Proverbs 4:23) and transforming our minds (Romans 12:2). The thoughts of our heart shape our words and actions. Only when God has your heart does he truly have you. You have to become so aware of your flaws that they cannot hide anymore. Once you have identified them you surrender and submit them to God. This involves breaking patters of behavior that produce the opportunity to make a choice between something that will fill a short-sided desire and something that will produce the internal change you truly desire. Prayer keeps us focused on what we know needs to happen for change to occur rather than what is directly in front of us.
No matter the struggle, no matter situation, no matter how stuck you’ve been, if you know Christ then there is hope. We no longer have to accept that this is the way things are, must be or will be. While we grow in grace, God is changing our heart and the way we respond to life. God’s good work continues in your life, even when you don’t see it. The hope for those that are stuck is that what God has begun in you he will complete (Philippians 1:6).
God, thank you for your grace. I praise you that there is hope even in the midst of the hopelessness I might feel. Help me to trust in my new identity in you. Amen.
January 3, 2012
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