God Promises an Escape From Corruption
Is there anything you need to escape from?
Verse of the Day
‘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.’
Today’s Devotional
We have been studying God’s promises for over awhile, and we are not done. And this verse…. This verse reminds us that God’s promises are great and precious. We can believe these promises with confidence because of God’s glory and excellence. Psalm 138:2 says that God’s promises are backed by all the honor of His name.
So what are we to do with the promises of God?
First, we need to believe them. As in personally. They are not just true generally. They are true for each one of us.
Today’s verse tells us that these promises, as we believe them and walk in them, allow us to do two things: first, to share in God’s divine nature, and second, to escape this world’s corruption.
Do you feel like you have a divine nature? Here’s the beauty I see in this statement: God could (just) save us from hell and allow us into heaven after we die or Jesus returns. And that is part of His promise. But He doesn’t stop there. God is inviting us to share His divine nature. He is offering to make your human existence more than just human. When we choose obedience over anything else, that’s the divine nature being played out in our lives. When we choose unity over being right. When we choose kindness over indifference. When we choose forgiveness over resentment. When we choose acceptance over judgement. When we choose to be others-focused over self-focused. When we choose to believe the things God says about us over what our brain (or the world) says. When we choose faith over fear. When we choose vulnerability over being guarded. When we choose to be accepting over rejecting. As we are obedient in these things, God is slowly dripping the divine nature into our humanness. And it’s the promises of God that make all of that possible.
God’s promises also enable us to escape the corruption of this world. And notice, the corruption is caused by human desires. When we allow our human desires to drive us, we are heading in a very dangerous direction. Part of the escape, then, is allowing God’s divine nature to be in charge.
I’ve never been a fan of hiding from the world in order to escape its corruption. To me, that’s the equivalent of hiding the Light under a basket. (Luke 8:16) But to be an effective beacon of the Light in the world, I have to be prayed up and armored up. I must be firm in my identity that God has declared over me. And I must believe that God’s promises for me are true.
Have you ever noticed how easily influenced we are as humans? If you’ve never noticed this, let me break it to you. You ARE being influenced by something, whether you realize it or not. We are influenced by what we read, by the music we listen to, by the shows we watch, by the people we listen to, by advertisements, by what we look at online. Perhaps part of the escape from corruption God gives us is the ability to choose what we allow to influence us.
Having an escape from corruption available to us is a promise. We must then choose to take the escape.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How are you showing God that you believe His promises to be great and precious?
How has God shared His divine nature with you personally?
What do you need to escape from?
How have you noticed the world to be a corrupting influence on you?
What escape has God given you from that corruption? Have you taken that escape?