- Chapters: [[2 Peter 1]]:1-11 # New years reflection questions - How has it gone as a Christian? - What did you find hard about being a Christian in [[2025]]? - What would you need to make [[2026]] easier? # Given everything we need - [[2 Peter 1]]:3 "His divine power *has* given us everything we need for a godly life" - [[God]] has given us everything we really need, even if some worldly things seem to add difficulty still - Godliness means to become like [[God]]: - say no to things you desire - live differently from those around you ## Is it good news or bad news that we are given everything we need? - The last year likely included a lot of failure. So do we really want to hear that [[God]] has given us everything we need for [[2026]]? - Consider icebreaker game "building tallest tower you can with just spaghetti and marshmallows". Can lead to disaster when these towers collapse, but you were not given everything you need to build a good tower so its okay. But if [[Battersea Power Station]] were to collapse it would be worse due to the resources they had - Similarly, we were given everything we need and yet we fail anyway -- all our excuses are gone if he really has given us everything we need - 21st century advice normally would say "don't worry, you did the best you could. you've hit the best of your abilities". But consider hearing instead "I know it's hard, but you can, and tomorrow, you will!" # What is everything we need? - "...through our knowledge of him" - Repeatedly in this chapter, you have a "through..." pattern, mostly with **knowledge** - [[2 Peter 3]] bookends this and repeats the pattern - For [[Peter]], **knowledge is everything we need** - What is "knowledge" here? [[God]] is indeed a famous person, but it's different from e.g. celebrity trivia. An atheist professor of theology will know a lot of trivia about [[God]], but do now know [[God]] in the sense of [[Peter]], which is **knowing personally** - Before: promises => participate and escape - Future: welcome into eternal kingdom - In between: **knowledge of [[God]]** - rather than struggle and try to just not do the things we're not supposed to do, or try to do the things we are supposed to do -- **work on [[God]]**. How much does he love me? How much does he know me? - To break a bad habit, look at [[2 Peter 1]]:4 we need something more desirable, more exciting than something we want to do # Not growing is dying - [[2 Peter 1]]:5 "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness..." - [[2 Peter 1]]:10 "make every effort..." - [[2 Peter 1]]:5-7 gives us day to day instructions on what to do - It is an effort indeed, and [[Charlie Skrine]] likens it to breaking a big sweat running on a hot day - Recall [[2026-02-08 All Souls 1130 -- Grow up in salvation]] the urgency to grow up and eat spiritual food like a baby is urgent to eat worldly food - v. 15 [[Peter]] too makes every effort, to write this letter and help us. Hence, our christian friends should be involved in helping each other and likewise we too should help our friends - but, the person most responsible for the growth of one's christian life is the christian living it