Great and Precious Promises

Do you have peace in your life? Do you know God? In Christ, there is peace that passes all understanding, but for the child of God, there is a multiplication of grace and peace through the knowledge of God (II Peter 1:1-4). The more you know God the more peace you’ll experience. You cannot get "more saved" or "more forgiven" but you can experience more of God's peace and reap more benefits of God's grace in your own soul. Knowing more about God gives us more peace. That's a motivator to get after it and read your Bible. You don’t need anything else. No matter what hobby you have, there is likely a whole industry designed to cater to all the “needs” that come along with it. I heard one astute gentleman recently say, “Half the fun of fly-fishing is buying and using all the gear.” Fishing is one of those hobbies that it can get as expensive as you want it to get. Makes me embarrassed catching fish as a boy with my Zebco 33, I obviously didn’t know at the time I should have been using the latest $500 carbon fiber rod. God has given us “all things that pertain until life and godliness, through the knowledge of him,” so you are equipped, child of God, with all you need.

The more you know of God, the more confidence and assurance you’ll have in your salvation. When you leave behind your natural feelings about religion, and understand true sovereign grace, then will you experience more peace. We are given “exceeding great and precious promises” in so many aspects of our lives, not the least the promises of salvation. The more you know God’s character and the more you understand his promises to you, the more joy and peace you’ll have when this life isn’t going like we want it to, or when we sin and fail in the midst of temptation.

These promises are not for the saints of old only, but for all God’s people. Peter was an apostle, but he wrote Second Peter to those who have “obtained like precious faith” and are saved by and have the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Are you saved? Then you have the same promises Peter had. You have the same Lord, the same Saviour, the same covenant, the same promises, and the same assurance. Though we live in a fallen, sin-cursed world, we have escaped the corruption that is in the world and by God’s grace, will be parkers of the divine nature. One day, we’ll stand on golden streets, breathe the air of the New Earth, always and forever in the peace of eternal life. Oh, what great promises we have! Christian, do you look for the promises in the Bible? They are yours! Read them, think about them, and believe them. If you want to be fruitful in this life, know what God has promised you and live in joyful confident assurance.