3. Resourced

Meditations in 2 Peter : 3 :  Resourced

2 Pet  1:2  Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

When we wrote about righteousness, I said I believed it was something that many Christians get confused about and make complicated, and I believe the same is true of the word ‘grace’.  I’ve never really liked the Sunday School explanation of it – God’s riches at Christ’s expense, even though it does say it all, because it really needs unpacking some more.  I suppose I don’t like the word ‘riches’ because I believe the word ‘resources’ conveys much better what it’s all about. And yes they do come to us because of what Christ has done for us on the Cross.

Both Peter and Paul speak a lot about grace and peace and it was obviously one of those ‘words’ that the early church had and taught that meant to much in so few words. So Peter starts by saying, “May you know and experience all of the resources that God has for you be able to live the life of one of His children.” That is what grace is, but even using the word ‘resources’ still leaves question marks. What are these resources and how do they come to us, and when do we experience them?  The ‘when’ is probably the easiest because the answer is all the time, even though we may not be aware of it.

The ‘what’ and the ‘how’ are answered by the latter part of this verse – grace comes “through the knowledge of God and of Jesus”. Knowledge here doesn’t mean just intellectual knowledge or metal assent to a truth, but it actually means knowing through experience. Grace isn’t something like magic dust that is blown on us by God when we pray; it is the actual presence of God Himself. The fact is, as Scripture makes plain, that when we become a Christian, God puts His very own Spirit within us. Supposing you were a motor driven by electricity, God’s Spirit is the electricity of your life, the thing that empowers you, motivates and energises you when you have given yourself over to Him.

Any need that you have, to be able to walk the Christian life as a child of God, flows to you in the form of the Holy Spirit within you. Yes, we submit our will to His and yes we need to obey His prompting, but when we do those two things we will always find that He will be the resource that we will need to face any situation or circumstance. We may need wisdom – He will provide it. We may need patience – He will provide it. We may need tolerance – He will provide it. We may need perseverance – He will provide it. We may need love – He will provide it. We may need courage – He will provide it. We may need faithfulness – He will provide it. These and many more things like them are expressions of this resource we call grace.

Why do we need grace? Because we live in a fallen world and left to ourselves we have a tendency to get it wrong and make wrong decisions, or respond badly to trying and difficult circumstances or people. Because it is a fallen world, other people will be less than gracious to us and things will go wrong and we need additional resources to express the nature and character of Jesus as a child of God. This is it. I know we have said it a number of times but it needs repeating: Grace enables us to live as children of God, to be the people God has designed us to be.

But it is not only grace he wants for us, it is also peace. Why should peace be marked out specially? For the very reasons we’ve just given, because we live in a fallen world and things go wrong and people are nasty, and all of that means life can be worrying. Remember what Paul said: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6,7) i.e. instead of worrying, go to God and tell Him all about it and you will find His peace will fill you and hold you and keep you, the peace that comes from being one with Jesus.

“In him” is an expression often found in the New Testament and it just reminds us that the New Testament teaches us that not only are we indwelt by his Spirit (i.e. he is in us), but that we are also now part of his body, the church and we are ‘in him’. Imagine the Holy Spirit coming as a cloud of light and enveloping you. All around is darkness but it cannot reach you because darkness flees before light. That is how it is now we are ‘in Christ’.

So all of these resources and this wonderful peace are ours as we experience the Godhead. THEY ARE or THEY HAVE all of these things within their Being and as we encounter the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit, we encounter and experience these things. Note how much! In “abundance”. These are not bare, limited resources; these are all we are ever going to need. Declare it aloud today: “I have all I need for this day because He is in me and I am in Him. Hallelujah!”