The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 1:3 that “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life...” It promises that God will give us everything for life, not everything in life. These are two very different things.
In life, we need a lot of things. They may be small, like a missing button for a shirt, or big, like capital investment for a business venture. These are things that may be needed in life, but they are not essential for life.
Of course, we do need oxygen, water and food for survival, but these are not what God is referring to either. You see, Scripture makes an important distinction between the two kinds of life — ‘Existence’ (‘Bios’ in Greek) and ‘Life’ (‘Zoe’ in Greek). We do need oxygen, water and food for ‘Bios’ life, but not for ‘Zoe’ life, in the biblical sense of the word.
So then, what do we really need for life, beyond just existing? It boils down to this one thing — a personal relationship with God. If you read the entire verse, it says, “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
We are called by God into a life-giving personal relationship with Him. Jesus defines what this life is in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” This is the greatest pursuit of our lives — to know Him! No wonder the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”.
God has promised that He will grant us everything we need to know Him. So, let this be the grandest ambition of our lives.
- Senior Pastor Lawrence Khong