His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness...-- 2 Peter 1:3
We have everything we need.
That is a simple statement, but a hard truth to comprehend.
As I write, I am sitting on the couch in my air-conditioned house, drinking coffee. I am about to head to an air-conditioned church and sit in a padded chair - and drink more coffee. Most who read this will be in similar comfort. My point: I've never known extreme poverty or the desperation of searching for a meal. I can only imagine how foreign the statement, we have everything we need, might sound to a family who is being evicted, having just buried a father, or to a mother combing scraps in the Matamoros Mexico dump to feed to her toddler (which I've seen).
Trite answers don't work. And American Christianity seems to often boil down to triteness and self-focus. I'll take it a step further (since it's my blog), trite and self-serving Christianity is not Christianity. And in my Christian journey, I am often guilty of "unchristianess." (Again, my blog, I can invent words.)
When we read Peter's words above, we often miss some important depth.
His divine power - Whose power? God's. (As in, "God's, period!" Not yours, not mine.)
...has granted - past tense, with continuing and ongoing results. (It's a Greek grammatical tense thing.)
...to us - This promise is given to the community of faith. And though it has individual impact, it is us, not me. (More on this in a moment.)
...all things - we have everything we need (keep reading).
...life and godliness - to live as God intends for us, (for our calling and purpose.)
This statement may sound trite, but it is true: We have everything we need in Christ.
I have often heard it said that God will never allow me to face more than I can bear. I struggle with the statement, though the fact that I am alive and well (and writing), sings the melody of its truth. That stated, I'd like to amend the platitude: God will never allow us to face more than we can bear... together and through his strength and presence.
The Christian life is a life lived in community with others from whom and with whom we share strengths, weaknesses, joys and pain. And it is a body (Paul's analogy) that is completely interconnected drawing its strength and power from Christ.
So, with all these concepts in mind I can confidently state: We have everything we need.
I, for one, tend to want more... to look for more. A blog post I wrote in davidmstanleykineticlife.blogspot.com quotes Bono from U2, whose lyric cries, But I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
But here is a truth I've learned and am learning: The real and worthy search in this life is not about looking for more. The worthwhile search is not the constant desire for something else, something other. The better journey is one that leads us to deeper understanding of WHO IS this one who provides, and who he has made us to be for ourselves and others.
That for which you search is not out there somewhere. It is instead found in a God who is a whisper away.
Keep searching... deeper.
God, I have everything I need... in you.
For now...
D
