Praise the Lord! Glory to God that He has kept us safe and secure throughout the past week and now blessed us with a new week in our life on earth. The source of our life is in the Lord God who created us in His likeness and image (Genesis 1:26-27). Moses whom the Lord God ordained to deliver the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt urged the Israelites to love and obey and hold fast to the Lord God for He is their life, as it is stated: You may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land … (Deuteronomy 30:20). The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Colossae that believers life is hidden in Christ as He is their life: … your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:3b-4). Paul also noted similar concept as he was introducing the Lord of heaven and earth [the Lord God who made the world and everything in it] to the people of Athens and the foreigners who lived among them while he was reasoning with them, saying: For in him we live and move and have our being … We are his offspring (Acts 17:28 [17:16-28]). All that we just discussed so far reminding us the fact that God is the source of our lives and we need to be grateful to Him for everything He does for us.

The Lord has blessed us with a very promising Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week that is taken from the Second Epistle of Peter 1:3 (mentioned above), which focuses on God’s faithfulness in providing everything we need for living a godly life on earth. According to the worldly standards or the patterns that mankind established for meeting one’s necessities in life, it is mostly understood to depend on human strength, resources, and abilities to achieve one’s necessities. The problem here is that the efforts and resources we put in can only help to meet part of our physical or material needs in life and it might not even help to meet any of our spiritual needs. However, with the help of God, if we utilize their strength, resources, and abilities in a proper way, we can achieve everything they need for living their life. Knowing these factors, the Apostle Peter writes to encourage the believers of all time that God is the One who enables us to earn and secure everything we need for our life. When Peter says God [by His divine power] gives us everything we need for living a godly life, it does not mean that we do not need to do anything to achieve it. We need to trust God and act according to His righteous guidance. One needs to know the glorified Christ personally and accepts Him as the Lord of our life and believe in Him that He is able to provide everything we need for living a godly life, which includes our spiritual as well as physical/material needs. God has already prepared the resources to take care of all our needs in life but we need to utilize our strength, abilities, and resources and work hard to earn the necessary things we need in life and use it to meet all our needs. For instance, the Scripture states that salvation is the gift of God, as it is mentioned: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8; also refer to Titus 3:5), yet we have to believe that the Lord God Almighty is the One who took the form of a mere human being and came down to this world and lived among them as any other human being [except sin / Hebrews 2:17; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5] under the name Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31; 2:21) and sacrificed His very life to save the lives of those who willing to accept His Lordship over their life and live the rest of their life the way He lived while He was on earth (refer Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; John 1:1-4, 14; 10:30; 17:20-23; Philippians 2:5b-11; Hebrews 1:1-4). This is what Apostle Paul meant when he wrote the following statement: This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people … (1 Timothy 2:3-6a). Another example is that in a house there will be raw substances like rice, meat, vegetables, spices, water, utensils, stove, and other necessary things available for food. We might be able to eat it as it is and if we do not want to take any effort to it prepare a good meal and eat it. However, if we want to have a delicious meal, then we have to pick up the necessary raw substances and measure out the appropriate proportions and prepare ourselves a good meal to enjoy its absolute taste. We can do it however we want because God has given us ability to do so – we just need to use our God given strength, ability, and resources to do so. If someone chooses not to take pain to prepare a meal, then they might not be able to enjoy a good meal.

Similarly, everything we need for living our life satisfactorily is available in this world and it is our responsibility to use our strength, resources, and ability to obtain it according to our need and satisfaction, in a similar way the Israelites collected the manna on a daily basis during their wilderness journey from Egypt to Canaan (Exodus 16:21; Psalm 78:24-25). Ultimately, God’s divine power provides believers everything they need for their life – everything means spiritual, physical, material, emotional, and so on. Jesus said, whatever you ask to the Father in heaven in His name, it will be given to you: Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete (John 16:23-24; also refer to Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 14:13-14; 15:16; 1 John 5:14-15).

Dear friends in the Lord, we need to trust God and believe that He is able to provide us with everything we need in life for living a godly life. God who created the universe and everything it [both living and non-living] out of nothing is able to provide us what we need in life for sure if we live our life according to His will and for His purpose. When God gives us what we need in life, He will give us more than enough and satisfy us with the good things (Psalm 34:10; 103:5; 107:9; Jeremiah 31:14). Let us count on God who created us in His likeness and image and trust His Word wholeheartedly, especially the words He spoke through Apostle Peter, which states: 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). May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!