Friday, December 23, 2011

Day 357: 2 Peter 1, 2 and 3


His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. (2 Peter 1:3)

1 Peter was written secretly from Rome to those displaced by Neronian persecution, warning them to never respond to evil with evil, but to let their faith be refined by suffering. Time has passed since that writing. It would seem that Peter has been discovered, or maybe he just thinks he can’t remain hidden much longer. His life is in danger, and he writes to his friends one last time.

2 Peter is another of his letters to the same refugees informing them among other things that he is living on borrowed time. There are some things he needs to tell them while he still can.

Keep growing in faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, affection and love (from 1:5-7). This takes effort, but we have two choices: we can work to grow up in Christ or we can stall and become worthless. God has graciously given us everything we need.

Christ’s return is sure (from 1:16), but false prophets have leveraged his delay to infect his followers with doubt (from 2:1). They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?” (3:4) No matter what detractors say, we can be sure we have not been forgotten.

Christ’s delay is measured to allow unbelievers time to repent and believers time to mature (from 3:8-10). God wants no one to perish, but all to come to repentance.

How does Peter’s second secret letter speak to you?

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