Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
Peter was indeed an “eyewitness of [Christ’s] majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). While the false teachers invented clever stories, he spoke the very words of God. His firsthand account carried weight with the recipients of this letter…and is authoritative for us today.
The early church was saturated with false teachers. To gain a hearing, they devised clever stories that would appeal to their listeners. To the intellectuals, they philosophized. To the emotional, they told stories that grabbed the heart. To the spiritually naive and immature, well, anything worked with them. False teachers always skipped a significant doctrine (or two), but they could sure draw a crowd, so Peter made it clear that his message about Jesus was as an eyewitness.
It is early in the morning as you sit down with pen and paper. Composing on a computer won’t do. You want these words to flow straight from your heart, personalized with your distinct handwriting. The end of your life is near, and you write knowing that you are expressing your last thoughts. What would you write in that letter? Here is what Peter writes in his final letter.
How can you know for sure that you are a true believer? How can you have certainty about your eternal home? These are key questions, and the answers focus on your spiritual growth. Here’s what Peter says in today’s passage.
I officiated a memorial service for Lois, a believer who followed hard after Jesus. One word that described her entire life was “service.” Not long before she died, her daughter-in-law took several of Lois’ great-grandchildren to visit her in a care facility. They became worried when she was not in her room and began searching for her. Finally, they found Lois at the end of a hall in her wheelchair, reading to a person who could not see.
Becoming a Christian is a free gift of grace. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We were dead in our sins, and God breathed spiritual life into us. Salvation is of the Lord. But growing as a believer involves the power of the Holy Spirit in us and our personal commitment, desire, and ongoing discipline to grow.
As I write this, God has placed me in a challenging and stretching time. I have done a good bit of reflecting on “his precious and very great promises.” In fact, I have written several of God’s promises on 3 x 5 cards to review them often. There is no middle ground to a promise.
Davonte Jett-Reynolds heard the final lap bell during the men’s 5,000 meters at the 2023 NCAA Division 2 track championships and gave it all he had for the last 200 meters. He finished in third place—only one problem. The race wasn’t over. The electronic lap counter had skipped a lap, and the lap bell had sounded too soon. By the time Jett-Reynolds learned he had another lap, he was spent. He finally finished in eighteenth place. The NCAA refused to re-run the race. The confusion not only cost Jett-Reynolds a medal but kept his team from a second-place finish.
In the preceding verses, Peter told his readers to humble themselves under the “mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” Believers can cast all their anxieties on the Lord because God is always faithful, and those who follow him can entrust themselves to his care. God is in control, but that does not nullify human responsibility. We are reminded of this in today’s passage.
It was a particularly hot day in Dallas, and I was driving around the city looking for an apartment. I had just graduated from seminary, and my wife and I needed to move from the condo we had rented for four years. I had resumes scattered throughout the country but was getting no response, or rather I was getting the same response—“No.” Lori and I thought we would be looking for a place to live in a new city, but instead, we were staying in Dallas. It was a discouraging stretch of my journey.
Humility is the appropriate “attire” for the follower of Jesus. The lasting principle, quoted here by Peter, makes the case that God ”mocks proud mockers, but shows favor to the humble and oppressed” (Proverbs 3:34 NIV).
James and John sent their mother to request a favor from Jesus. She asked that when he established his kingdom, her two sons be given a special place of power and position. Once the other disciples learned of this query, they were “indignant.” Peter must have been particularly irritated. Along with James and John, he made up Jesus’ inner circle. But as always, Jesus turned the situation into an important teaching moment.