Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. – 2 Peter 1:1-7 NKJV. 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. – 2 Peter 1:2 NIV. 

Grace and peace [that special sense of spiritual well-being] be multiplied to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. – 2 Peter 1:2 Amplified Bible. 

When you first meet someone, do you immediately know everything about that person? Of course not. With social networks like facebook and twitter it is easy to understand this lack of knowing about a new friend on Facebook, or a follower on Twitter. Over a period of time as you interact with a new friend on facebook or follower on twitter you come to know more about them. Then, there are some friends and followers that you never really know; because they never interact with you, they never talk to you. It is the same in the actual real world when you meet a new person, they may become a friend, or they may just be a person whose name you know. 

Do you know Jesus, really know Him? Did you meet Jesus one day receiving Jesus as your Savior, but that initial experience is about all you know about Him? You know His name, but that’s about all? Are you wondering why other believers sing the praises of knowing Jesus, but you have never personally experienced anything like they have? God, through the apostle Peter, is trying to help us to understand that knowing Jesus, really knowing Jesus is the key to the abundant life (John 10:10) that Jesus came to give us. 

The “divine power” of Jesus “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” For us to receive the “all things that pertain to life and godliness” Peter is telling us (2 Peter 1:1-7) that we need a growing relationship with Jesus. We can’t just be facebook friends with Jesus if we want to have the “all things.” We need to know the “exceedingly great and precious promises.” We must give our relationship with Jesus “all diligence.” If we want to have the blessings of God, the “all things” we just need more of Jesus. 

As the old hymn “More About Jesus” puts it:

More, more about Jesus,

More, more about Jesus;

More of His saving fullness see,

More of His love who died for me. 

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Philippians 3:10 NKJV).”