DECEMBER 23, 2021 READINGS... 1 Peter 5:12-14 & 2 Peter 1:1-3:18
As you finished reading 1 Peter you may have noticed that Peter address dealing with problems from outside the church…now in 2 Peter he will deal with problems from inside the church.
2 Peter begins with a call to grow in the Lord. We are all saved to grow. This is not a religious growth…but the growth of our relationship with Christ which will always change the way we live our lives. When Christ saves us, He finds us as we are…but He never leaves us the way we were. We are called to be intentional in our process of growing in Christ. That is what Peter expresses in chapter 1, verses 5-7… “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.” He instructs us to be very diligent to make our calling and election sure. We are told to stay in the Scripture…for they are truth, and not the “clever” stories of men. We must realize that these Scriptures come to us through the Holy Spirit, and they are understood by the teaching of the Holy Spirit…there is no place for “private interpretation".
As Peter closes this second letter, he gives warning to the church about two groups that have found their way into the church…false teachers, and those who deny the coming again of the Lord Jesus. Peter reminds us that there will always be false teachers among us, just like there were the false prophets in the Old Testament. They bring their destructive heresies, actually denying the Lord. Sadly, many will follow these false teachers. These false teachers are not believers, but they are lost children of the devil, coming into the church to destroy. They are proud and arrogant…you can bet they will always consider themselves smarter than anyone else in the room. But, they are like unthinking animals…for they scoff at things they cannot understand. They intentional twist the Scripture…they are doomed. Mark them…avoid them. Then Peter deals with the scoffers of the return of Jesus. Once again these have always been in the church…thinking the world revolves around them, and that their time-table is what is important. Peter reminds us that time, and the events of time, belong to God…especially the return of Christ. Jesus came right on time in His first advent…and He will come right on time for His second.
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW’S READINGS… 1 John 1:1-4:6