That grace and peace may abound

One of my favorite passages in C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian is when Lucy meets up with Aslan, and she says, “Aslan! You’re bigger!”

And Aslan replies, “That is because you are older, little one.”

“Not because you are?”

“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

How true is that in our relationship with God. He is already as big as he ever will be. But as we grow in our knowledge of him, he becomes bigger in our eyes. Not because he actually grows bigger, but because we see him more as he truly is.

I believe that is why Peter says,

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Peter 1:2)

He expands on this in verses 3-4.

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 sin. (3-4)

How can we know grace and peace in abundance in our lives? Through knowing God more. Through coming to know his glory and goodness more deeply.

That same glory and goodness by which he called us to be his own children. That same glory and goodness through which he has given us his very great and precious promises.

Promises of eternal life. Promises that the Holy Spirit will indwell us, counsel us, lead us, intercede for us, and day by day transform us into Christ’s likeness.

And because of these promises, we can actually participate in his divine nature, such that when people see us, they see our Father in heaven.

Through his grace we have already escaped the corruption in this world that destroys people. (The new NIV translates verse 4 more accurately: “having escaped the corruption in the world.”)

But now his power gives us everything we need to to live life to the fullest and to become the godly children he created us to be.

And as we live this way each day, God’s grace abounds to us and so does his peace.

Do you know that grace and peace today? If not, draw near to God. The word “godliness” has that very connotation in it. It was used of people who kept in close touch with the “gods.”

But here, Peter applies it to Christians and says that we should keep in constant touch with the one true and living God.

Moment to moment, day to day, we should be aware of his presence in our lives, and to let that awareness shape our thoughts, our actions, our very lives.

And as you do, you will know his grace and his peace in your life, multiplied many times over.