When’s the last time you thought about air? Aside from the handful of serious free-divers and big-wave surfers I know who are always training to hold their breath longer, nobody really thinks about air very much. Your body is totally dependent on oxygen, but when’s the last time you thought about breathing? Do you wake up every morning and remind yourself to breathe? Have you ever made it halfway through your day and thought, “Oh, man, I can’t believe I forgot to breathe today!” You just instinctively take in oxygen, because there’s always an abundant supply of air all around you.

In the same way, God’s wisdom is always available to us through the presence of his Holy Spirit, as Pastor Alton so powerfully preached this past Sunday. But for some reason, we don’t breathe it in as instinctively as we do with oxygen. That’s why Peter has to remind us:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises” (2 Peter 1:2-4).

So God has given us his power and knowledge, and it’s come through very great promises. Most scholars believe that Peter is referring back to the sermon he preached at Pentecost in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers.
In that sermon, he quoted the promises from the prophet Joel: “In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2).

So what Peter’s really saying is that God’s power and knowledge has come to us through the Holy Spirit inside us, and this has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. The question for us is, do we really believe that? Do we believe that God’s wisdom is enough for all things that pertain to life and godliness?

If you’re like many Christians, you’d say God’s power gives you everything you need for godliness, but you’re probably not totally convinced that he’s given you everything you need for life. That’s something different.

A middle-school or high school student might say, “I’m not really sure God has given me everything I need to deal with the pressure to be cool. I don’t have the right shoes. I don’t have the right phone. What am I supposed to do?”

A college student might say, “I’m not really sure God’s given me everything I need to finish school. If I work, I don’t have time to study. If I study, I don’t have money to survive!”

A young adult might say, “I’m not really sure God’s really going to give me the spouse I need.”

A young mom might say, “I’m not really sure God has given me all the energy I need to raise a baby, keep up with emails, and cook dinner, and work part-time too, so we can afford diapers and formula.”

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Jesus didn’t come to give us a visa stamp in our passport to show the immigration officer one day when we arrive in heaven. He came that we may have life and have it abundantly right now.[/perfectpullquote]A middle-aged man might say, “I’m not really sure God has given me everything I need to compete with the young energetic guys at work. I’m scared for my job, and I have no idea what else I’d do.”

So do we really believe that God’s divine power has given us everything we need for godliness and life? Because they go together, like cheese and macaroni. Jesus didn’t come to give us a visa stamp in our passport to show the immigration officer one day when we arrive in heaven. He came that we may “have life and have it abundantly” right now. (John 10:10).

The only way we can have it is to lean on the wisdom and power available to us all the time through his Holy Spirit.