Mar 7 - 00 - Introduction - 2 Peter 1:3

His divine power has

given us everything

we need for a godly life

through our knowledge of him

who called us by his own

glory and goodness. 

2 Peter 1:3 

Bible Rank: 411

 

 

One of my favorite Bible websites is www.topverses.com. Somehow, someway, thousands of Scripture verses have been "ranked" in order of theological and spiritual merit. 

 

It provides a powerful way to search for helpful scriptural verses – whether searching by Biblical books (for example, what are the top verses and themes in the Psalms) or by key words (what, for example, are the best verses on “love” or “joy”).

 

Over the next few months -- in these daily devotions -- we'll look at what this website lists as the top verses in all scripture. They paint a picture of who God is ... and what we might become. 

 

Tomorrow we'll start with the verse that's ranked number one. (Can you guess what it might be?) Today, I grabbed their random-verse-of-the-day: 2 Peter 1:3 (Bible Rank: 411). What does this verse tell us?!

 

1.    The purpose for this teaching is that we might lead "a godly life."

 

2.    Peter tells us, however, that we can't fully live a godly life on our own. Thus, we need a power -- indeed, a "divine power" -- to fully lead a "godly life."

 

3.    The Good News, though: We HAVE a divine power. And it’s not something we must manufacture with our own power; it's a gift "given [to] us" by God. 

 

4.    God "has given us everything we need for a godly life"! But ... do we have to do something to access it?

 

5.    Kind of! To access this power, there's nothing we have to do ... it's something that simply comes to us as we get to "know" Him.

 

6.    But again, this is not our work. It is God in his "goodness" who "call[s] us by his own glory."

 

7.    Thus the pattern is this ...

 

a.    God initiates. (He calls. He initiates faith.)

b.    We respond. (We accept him -- or not.)

 

c.    God initiates again. (He reveals Himself to His children in a personal relationship.)

d.    We respond again. (We come to know Him better and better.)

 

e.    Then God initiates yet again. (To those who know Him, He reveals more and more of His divine power as a gift.)

f.     We respond yet again. (We start living an increasingly godly life through His power working in us.)

 

Did you see all of that in one simple verse. Join me for the TopVerses! This could be fun!

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy whose top verse

(right now) is Psalm 42:1-2a

(What's yours?)