Aspirations
“His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
2 Peter 1:3
One of my sisters came home from elementary school with mediocre grades one semester. When challenged by my parents that she could have done better, my sister replied something like, “These grades are average – I’m average.” My parents quickly straightened her out, pointing out that her aspirations were too low because she was smarter than average. No child of theirs was going to settle for being average.
I have had many aspirations in my life, but it has never been an aspiration of mine to become “godly.” Perhaps I am too much of a realist. Or maybe it is because I am too aware of my own sinfulness. Maybe being average, in this instance, is good enough. I am far from the “goodness,” much less the “godliness” that Peter writes about in this verse.
Yet, Peter reminds us that our conversion has given us knowledge of Christ. And this knowledge has been shared with us by Christ who calls us into relationship and communion with Him, with “his own glory and goodness.” And it is through this that we receive the power to live a godly life, to become more like Christ.
The Eastern Church Fathers taught of theosis, or divinization, that life in Christ was a process of being transformed into the likeness of Christ and having a union with God. This was not an aspiration of life beyond death but is something that takes place in the here and now, the present life … if we but recognize this reality and trust in God. The Eastern Fathers believed this was the purpose of the Incarnation, of Jesus becoming human. And the purpose of human life was to become like Christ, emptying ourselves out of our human frailties to be filled by God.
If this wasn’t unsettling enough, Peter tells us we have been given “everything needed for life and godliness.” We have already been given all that we need. Think about that for a moment: We have already been given all that we need to grow into the likeness of Christ, to draw more deeply in union with God through worship, prayer, reading the scriptures, serving and living in community.
We have already been given all that we need. This has become my mantra when I become fixated on needs I think I have … or my latest failure at being holy or at the very least nice.
We have already been given all that we need. We just need to believe that and trust in God.
