Saturday 5 May, 2018

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

As Peter concludes his phenomenal letter, full of majesty and grace, full of pleading and exhortation, full of explanation and reasoning, it is intriguing how he decides to finish.

Here are a couple of things that stood out to me as I read this:

He starts his conclusion by emphasising how important it is to actually live out the Christian life.

He refers to the writings of Paul the apostle, firstly to note that Paul and Peter agree on things (even if Paul is hard to understand!) and secondly to acknowledge that Peter understood the writings of Paul to be “scripture” in line with the scripture of the Old Testament!

Finally he highlights the importance of determining the truth about Christ – that there are false teachings out there that can cause problems for our faith.

First living, then believing and then understanding and discerning.

Thank you Lord that your word is so beautiful and so helpful to be able to apply to my life. May I always strive to not only read it, but also do what it says in fullness.

Written by Ps. Justin Ware