“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.”

2 Peter 1:2-3 ESV

“Live and learn” is one of those ho-hum expressions I grew up with.  It is etched in my mind, with the understanding that most of life is trial and error; that we learn most of what we know from our mistakes. How do we turn this around, so that we “learn and live?”  How soon do children learn of God and His Son, Jesus Christ?—by this, I mean, not just a hint, here or there, of God’s existence, or that Jesus is somehow connected to Christmas and Easter; but, children learning, as they are brought up by fathers in “the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”  (Ephesians 6:4)

To be brought up in a Christian home is a gift and act of God’s grace—by this I mean, not just taken to Sunday School and church, but a Christian home where the principles of “life and godliness” are modeled, lived before and with them. How much of His Word, wherein is found this “knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord,” do we as parents have within our own hearts and minds?

 It is by His mercy and grace that we can be “transformed by the renewing of the mind” and so “prove His good, acceptable, and perfect will”  (Romans 12:1-2) for ourselves and for our children.

What does this life look like in reality?  Paul described it in Titus 2:11-14:

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

Only His “divine power” of grace can do this work in us—for His glory and our joy.

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God,

and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.“

John 17:3