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For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness\u2026 (2 Peter 1:5-6)

Today\u2019s word is \u201cgodliness,\u201d and it takes us right back to yesterday\u2019s word of \u201cperseverance.\u201d \xa0In particular, it takes us back to the later section of this letter that Pastor Michael quoted yesterday, where Peter writes: \u201cYou ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming\u201d (2 Peter 3:11b-12a). \xa0

We have a hope in Christ that keeps our eyes fixed on him, looking forward to his coming again when he will set all things right and make all things new. \xa0In anticipation of that day, we are called to persevere\u2014to hang on to our hope and faith through all the trials, sufferings, and everyday burdens of life. \xa0That was what we talked about yesterday.

But now Peter says we must do more than just hang on and endure until Jesus returns\u2014we must also live. \xa0Not just surviving by living out a life that sources the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, and work mind you, but living a life that seeks to embody the faith and hope we claim in Christ. \xa0We \u201cought to live holy and godly lives as [we] look forward,\u201d ever straining to become who God has made us to be.

For this, Peter uses the word \u201cgodliness.\u201d \xa0It\u2019s a word that refers to good deeds that arise from the root of faith and the motivation of love. \xa0It\u2019s a word that also refers to spiritual disciplines like prayer and worship. \xa0It also refers to a respect for the Creational boundaries and proportions that God has set for our creaturely lives in relationship to self, to others, and to him. \xa0Most simply\u2014it is a word that suggest we ought to become like Christ, our God. \xa0

To become godly is to really live out that whole \u201cWhat Would Jesus Do\u201d line. \xa0It is to respect the boundaries and fittingness of life and interactions, as Jesus did. \xa0It is to tend our relationship with God through practices of prayer, as Jesus did. \xa0It is to do good in this world, as Jesus did. \xa0To do all this, not only \u201cas\u201d Jesus did, but \u201cbecause\u201d Jesus did. \xa0We seek to become godly as an all-of-life act of devotion to him. \xa0Or, as Paul puts it in Romans 12, it is offering our \u201cbodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God\u2014this is,\u201d he says, \u201cyour true and proper worship.\u201d \xa0

Seeking to live a godly life is not something that we do from guilt nor something that we attempt to conjure up out of nothing by sheer force of will. \xa0No, as Peter already told us in verse 3: God\u2019s \u201cdivine power has given us everything we need for a godly life,\u201d and he has done so \u201cthrough our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.\u201d

It is God\u2019s desire and design that we should become like Christ. \xa0He is the one who called us to be godly. \xa0He is the one who provides, through the Spirit, all that we need to do it. \xa0He is the one who brings this Christlike godliness to life within us when we join with him. \xa0Finally, he is the one who gives us the hope to lead us on and to assure us that all of this will finally be accomplished: on that day when Christ comes again. \xa0

Until then, let us \u201clive holy and godly lives as [we] look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.\u201d\xa0

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).

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