Christ's Power, Not Ours

Today's Scripture: 2 Peter 1:3
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness."
Read it online at the Bible Gateway: (NIV) (NASB) (KJV) (The Message)

We are not to wage this warfare against sin in the strength of our own willpower. Instead, just as we by faith look to Christ for our righteous standing before God, so by faith we're to look to him for the enabling power to live the Christian life. This power comes as a result of our vital or living union with him. Jesus referred to this union in John 15:1-5 when he called himself the vine and us the branches. Just as the branches derive their life and nourishment from the vine, so we are to receive our spiritual life and power from him.

All believers are spiritually united to Christ in such a way that our spiritual life comes from him. We're not completely passive, however, in this relationship. Rather, we're to abide or remain in him by faith. We're to actively rely on Christ for the enabling power we need to wage war against the sin that remains in us, to put on the positive virtues of Christ-like character (called "the fruit of the Spirit" in Galatians 5:22-23), and to serve Christ effectively in all that he calls us to do.

The apostle Paul had in mind our union with Christ and the power that comes from him in such Scriptures as Philippians 4:13, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" (NIV), and Colossians 1:29, "To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me" (NIV). Paul waged war against indwelling sin, and he worked hard in ministry, but he did both in dependence on Christ and the power that comes through a living union with him.