LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Where do promises come from?

What is the source or motivation of a promise?

Those are good questions to ask and answer. We make promises out of selfish motives many times. Some promises are made because of the benefit they will produce for us. Some of our promises are made to simply meet what we believe are other people’s expectations of us so we can please them. But the promises of God are not so.

A careful reading of today’s Scripture passage reveals an important truth – the promises of God are precious and great because they originate in and are motivated by His glory and excellence.

2 Peter 1:3-4 “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, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature…”

This truth is not to be skimmed over quickly. Every promise of God comes from His glory and is motivated by His excellence, which can be translated as “Goodness”. Every word that He has spoken to us has its origins in His perfect nature. The promises come from His loving heart. Every promise is perfect and has no flaw in it or possibility of failure.

Every promise of God also has a purpose – so that we might become partakers of the divine nature of God. Faith in Jesus Christ and the application of His promises to our lives produces the very nature of Jesus Christ in us. Just look at what Peter says next:

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”(2 Peter 1:5-7)

As we believe and apply the great and precious promises of God to our lives, the growth of the divine nature of God begins. Just look at the qualities of the life of Christ that are developed in us:

• To our faith God adds virtue, which is goodness.
• To His goodness God adds more knowledge of who He is and His will for our lives.
• To His knowledge God adds self-control – the ability to overcome impulsive desires.
• To His self-control God adds steadfastness – the ability to persevere through hardship and trial.
• To His perseverance, God adds godliness, or the capacity to reflect His life in our lifestyle choices.
• To His godliness God adds brotherly affection – the desire and ability to love others in God’s family the church.
• To His brotherly affection God adds love – the unconditional love of others with no expectation or demand of reward. This is the Divine nature of God to its fullest.

All of this is made possible through the promises of God flowing out of His glory and excellence. What flows from His divine nature can do nothing less than produce His divine nature when received and believed.

Let’s accept a challenge to read one promise of God every day for the next 18 years, because that’s how many promises God has spoken. But let’s do more than read them – let’s believe them and live them. Imagine what it will be like with all of us walking around this earth with God’s divine nature showing rather than our own.

Pastor John