Precious Promises, Evil Desires

2 Peter 1:3-4 says

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

This quote has been on my computer's wallpaper now for 23 days. It is the August screensaver from "Proclaim!", the daily radio ministry of the Moody Bible Institute, which is broadcast daily on Premier Christian Radio.

It was only the other day, when I was having a bad day spiritually, that I actually took notice of what my wallpaper said. It is clear that Peter is saying here that God's power in the Christian gives us everything we need, not only for our daily lives, but for that long sought-after quality of godliness. It is however, expressed through our knowledge of Him, so it follows that we should be seeking to increase our knowledge of Him. Spend time reading His Word and actually resting in His presence, getting to know Him personally.

Peter goes on to say that God's own glory and goodness is what He has used to call and sanctify us and He has given us great and precious promises in order that we can live in the divine nature. Living in the divine nature means being like Him. When we understand that He has given us everything and we put our whole trust in Him, we can partake in some of that "godliness", that divine nature.

Now, this last bit is the bit that really struck me. We can escape the corruption in the world. What causes the corruption in the world? Why, evil desires. This means that we ourselves are also responsible for this corruption. All those things we know of as the "7 Deadly sins", such as greed, lust, envy, slander, malice, etc are all evil desires. Every time I spend a lot of money on myself - on things I want, rather than need; every time I'm jealous of someone else; every time I get angry with someone for no good reason; every time I look at something I shouldn't - especially when I close the window and 2 Peter 1:3-4 is sitting there on the desktop, right behind it.

This is what brings it all into focus - God knows our every thought and He has given us the power to be more like Him. So why don't we?