God created us for relationship with Him. Above all else His desire is for us to know Him and His divine power. God wants us to truly understand the overwhelming love He has for us because it is this love that touches our lives and produces a change in us that the rest of the world will see. In John 17:3 Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” These words are powerful. Jesus is telling us that eternal life doesn’t start when we die and go to heaven. Jesus is telling us that knowing Him is eternal life, and the only way to truly know Him is to spend time building a relationship with Him.
Knowing God comes from knowing His Word, and through this knowledge God has provided us with everything we need to live our lives for Him. It is our responsibility to take our knowledge of the Word and apply it to our lives in a way that develops qualities that emulate the qualities Jesus displayed. These qualities include moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness/perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love (2 Peter 1:5-7). Exercising our faith by developing these qualities keeps us from being unfruitful in regard to the true knowledge and greater understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8). When we allow the love of God to work through us and to produce these qualities that we then display to the world, it will cause us to be fruitful in our knowledge of Jesus – we will KNOW Him. Remember what Jesus said in John 17:3, eternal life is knowing Him. Exercising our faith by developing these qualities will allow us to bear fruit in our true knowledge of Jesus, and this true understanding of Jesus will allow us to know Him in a more personal and intimate way, and this understanding leads to eternal life. Eternal life is living every day with Jesus, it is abiding in God’s Word and leaning on His strength. Eternal life is receiving the blessings God has for us under an open heaven. Eternal life isn’t for the hereafter it is for the here and now and it starts when we gain a true understanding of Jesus. As we grow to spiritual maturity by developing these qualities it creates a straight path toward Jesus on which we can not stumble, and then “entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly provided” to us (2 Peter 1:11).
The Truth in Action: If you are living for God than you most likely have noticed the qualities found in 2 Peter 1:5-7 developing within you. While Peter tells us that we need to make an effort to add these qualities to our faith, for me this has been more of an effortless change as I pursue a deeper relationship with God on a daily basis. I think this is because as we pursue God through knowledge of His Word, we are learning His divine nature and this quickens within us through the Holy Spirit. We have God’s divine nature residing in us, so these qualities should be an offshoot of that nature within.
Meditate on Scripture: John 3:16 (NKJV) – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Further Study – Find examples in the Gospels of Jesus displaying the qualities found in 2 Peter 1:5-7 (moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love). How does this help you to know Jesus better? How can you apply these lessons to your everyday life?