We Share God's Divine Nature

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” 2 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT)   What does it mean that God shares his divine nature with us? It means that when God says we are created in his image and his likeness, what is true of God’s nature is equally true of ours.   The implications of this are staggering, but this is a place most of us haven’t allowed ourselves to go to because we see actions and motives in ourselves that don’t reflect the goodness of God, so we come to the conclusion this couldn’t possibly be true. But if you read my last sentence again, you’ll catch the key to our refusal to believe who God says we are: “we come to the conclusion.” It’s our conclusion, not God’s. Our own conclusion based on our own reasoning; not what God knows to be true about us.   Over and over again, our refusal to believe God comes down to eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the fruit of which causes us to come to our own conclusions, judge for ourselves, and decide for ourselves what we think is true or not true. It’s called independence and it robs us of everything that is ours through our union with Jesus because of our own misperceptions.   Our Father is calling out to us to return to light of His truth. His truth that paints a bright and vivid picture of each one of us created stunningly brilliant and altogether good. And how will you see what he sees? By eating from the Tree of Life, or as Jesus put it, “I live by every word that comes from the mouth of my Father.” (Matt 4:4)   What does it mean that you share God’s divine nature? God’s nature is love, so your nature is love. God’s nature is good, so your nature is good. God’s nature is merciful, kind, compassionate and forgiving, so your truest nature, created in God’s image, is the same.   This isn’t something for your mind to figure out, it’s for your spirit to feed on continually. God’s truth is the truth that sets you free—free to be who he says you are. When we start embracing that, then treating each person we encounter as one created in his image is the natural progression.