Daily Word

Through the new birth, we have become partakers in the greatest reality and power in the universe: the love of God.

Yet, we cannot “live”—or “walk”—in love until we have passed through the process of death that liberates us from “the old man” and all legalism. This entails the profound anguish of being emptied of our self-confidence, our reliance on our own abilities, and our self-righteousness—thereby entering into the life of the Spirit, the life of love.

It is one thing to have become a partaker of the “divine nature,” but quite another not to be dominated by the evil desires that cloud—and, if they gain power over us, could potentially destroy—that nature.

At the beginning of his second epistle, Peter describes the process we must undergo in order to become established in the new life of which we have become partakers: "For this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”

This entails that everything which is not of divine love is pressed out of us, and the loving nature of God invades every aspect of our being.

In this way, divine love becomes not merely our fundamental nature, but our very life.

Peter emphasizes how crucial it is that we truly undergo this process: ”If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they do not make you useless nor unproductive in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the one who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choice of you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”