EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES

"May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:2-4, RSV).

Devotion 7 of 10

A VALUABLE KINGDOM!

Jesus taught us that the Kingdom of God was like a treasure hidden in a field. When found, it constrained the finder to sell all that he had in order to purchase the field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field" (Matt. 13:44). The heavenly Kingdom is like a TREASURE because of its intrensic value. It is like a HIDDEN treasure because it is NOT apparent to the fleshly senses. In it like a treasure in a FIELD because, by the grace of God, it has been placed within our reach. It only remains for the Kingdom of God to be discovered--to be "found." Settle it in your mind, that if God were not working behind the scenes, however, this treasure would never be discovered. But, thanks be unto Him, He IS "working salvation in the midst of the earth" (Psa 74:12). That is why an Ethiopian eunuch found the treasure in an earthly desert (Acts 8:27-39), and a business woman from Thyatira found it near a River in Philippi (Acts 16:14-15). Notice what the finder did! "For joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." This decisive action was not prompted by an announced curse on all the person possessed--although that was true. Nor, indeed, did he sell everything because he was threatened with hell if he did not--although that was technically the situation he confronted. His action was induced by the greatness and the grandness of the treasure. The "exceeding great and precious promises" provide that kind of incentive. O, that men were more familiar with them! When men see the "exceeding great and precious promises," they have discovered the treasure! Faith takes hold on these promises, convinced God cannot lie. It is that conviction that compels decisive action. Think of some of the promises, and allow them to constrain you. They are not beyond your reach, and are the intended means of bringing participation in the divine nature. All of these commitments are made to those overcoming the world, or "escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust." They are held out to those that desire to partake of the "divine nature." The glory of these promises is that they are true, and within your reach! PRAYER POINT: Father, my heart wants what you have promised. I know You have placed your promises in the Scriptures, and that they can be seen. Open the eyes of my heart, that I may see and apprehend them!

-- TOMORROW: THE TREE OF LIFE --