The apostle Peter wrote, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (2 Pet. 1:3). As Christians, we're in the habit of saying that God has given us everything essential to life and godliness. We recognize God as the giver of all good things, and we know He blesses us daily. In this letter, Peter goes farther than just saying that God has given us those things "essential" for life and godliness. He affirms that God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness! Yes, there is a difference between things "essential" to something and things that "pertain" to something.

To illustrate: If you own an automobile, but only have the things essential to the automobile, what do you have? You'll truly have the "bare-bones" of the car! In contrast, what if you owned an automobile and had everything that pertains to the car? What would you have then? Would there be room to sit in a car that possessed everything pertaining to a car? Think about what Peter wrote - God hasn't merely given us all things that are essential to life and godliness, but He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness! Remember the words of Christ in John 10:10!

Do we believe this? If so, are we thankful to God? If we believe the words of 2 Peter 1:3, why do we act as if everything depends on us when we know God has given all? Read 2 Peter 1:3 again and notice that God has given us all of these things through the knowledge of Christ. In other words, through the gospel of Christ. Therefore, through the gospel, God has given us "all things that pertain unto life and godliness." If there is, therefore, anything in our religion that didn't come through the gospel, then it doesn't pertain to life and godliness. Is it not time to check ourselves and see if we're following anything we can't find in the New Testament (2 Cor. 13:5; 1 Pet. 4:11)?

- The Old Paths, 6/2/19