Participating

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. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (II Peter 1:3-8)  

          In Scripture, two charges have been made against God repeatedly and effectively. The first is that He is acting against His own nature (e.g. Abram’s plea for Sodom and Gomorrah) and the second is that He had promised (e.g. Psalm 119:38.) The two are bound up together. It is in God’s nature to make promises and to keep them. He does not seem to mind being reminded.
         When you study the promises of God, one of the guidelines you may be given is that you need to check to see to whom it was given. You may not be the correct recipient. Another is that you need to check the conditions attached to the promise. All of the temporal blessings and curses promised in the last chapters of Deuteronomy were attached to Israel either fulfilling their part of the agreement, or their failing to do so. Gentile Christians should probably not expect those promises to be fulfilled. That doesn’t mean God won’t give some, or all, of the same blessings, just that He is not obligated to do so according to law. 
         God’s promises are given because of his glory and goodness. By those promises, we participate in the divine nature and escape corruption in the world caused by evil desires. This is definitely promised to Christians, but the other requirements are interesting. Peter tells us that the way to acquire that participation in divine nature and escape is by faith, but not by faith alone. To faith we have to add knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. How does a Christian participate in the divine nature? In part, it is by developing the same sort of nature. It only makes sense. You aren’t going to develop or participate in a divine nature if your life is a rejection in that divine nature. 
         Some people reduce the list to “love,” but God’s not the sort to throw in a bunch of filler to distract us from what is important. We must begin by faith. The next thing is knowledge. The list begins with the spirit and the mind, moves through the will and the flesh, and only at the end gets to heart issues. This doesn’t make the heart issues less. It probably makes them greater but the others come first. You can’t begin without faith, and faith increases as knowledge and experience increase. The will is brought to bear on our behavior. It’s only when we know, and use that knowledge within our own lives that we are truly able to deal with others in a divine manner. If you want to see God’s promises fulfilled in your life, this is the way to get there.