Faith

Actually, it's more like my Bible reading echoed what we watched on HC the other night. The show was about the end of the world – Armegeddon! The show was a mix about what Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions had to say about the "End Times."

The echo I picked up here in Second Peter 2 was about angels being cast out of heaven (verse 4). Surprising how HC got the story right in so many ways. Evil walks about the earth, seeking whom he/it can devour. Just like a roaring lion. There is so much in chapter 2 that it cannot be covered in a flash.[more]

Needless to say, there are some things that strike at the heart of many of today's preachers and religions. Peter calls them "false teachers" who present messages that even deny what they were originally taught – like they think that by some magic, they know more than what they were first taught. What is worse is that they begin to convince others that what they think is a "better" way, and so deceive them.

The problem here is that the "deceived" fall prey to the fallacy that "a loving God would not want me to do 'that'" in clear defiance of what God's Word says. Read this chapter twice, and then tell me what a "false teacher" is and what they will teach.

S'cuse me, while I read it again…

Before continuing on in Second Peter, I looked back at the first four verses. The analogy just popped up right in front of me. Here was Peter – that gruff, tough fisherman who is now confronted by a society (Emperor Nero) who wanted to kill Christians. This wasn't just a "kill'em" kind of thing. It was find them, torture them until they babble on and on about how they are not believers, begged not to be killed and then keep going until they die. Nero wanted those early believers to deny that Jesus was their "King" because he wanted to be recognized as their king.

What brought the flour to mind is in verses 3 and 4 where Peter says that what we become is not [more]because of what we generate or create on our own, but because of the power and knowledge that He (Jesus) gives to us. A sack of flour has no power to become bread or pizza dough on it's own. It takes something outside itself to give it the power. Even then, once it is mixed with water, yeast, salt and other ingredients, it does not have the power to stir itself in the bowl.

That sack of flour is just like a rock sitting by the road. It has no power to roll across the road unless someone or something forces it to move – gives it direction and energy.

So it is with our lives as believers or Christ-followers. We get the power from His words. When we take them in (you know, study and think about what He said), then we have power because we have direction. It is not until that happens that we can effectively live.

Look at it this way – a battery has no power unless and until someone gives it the chemicals that cause the reaction to produce electricity.

You can sit there like a sack of flour or a rock, or you can open up and let His words fill your life. It's a decision that you have to make many times, every day.

Peter did not actually use those words, but let's face it, if someone is "always ready to remind you of" something, then they could be working for the prize as chief nagger (is that a real word?)

One has to look carefully at what Peter says in Second Peter starting in verse 12. Although your version of the Bible may divide the first chapter somewhat differently, it still stands as one giant interwoven phrase. With the "if" and "then" and "practice" all tied together in one package.[more]

Add to the "interwoven" aspect, his repeated "I am going to remind you", or "You need to remember" and you have a recipe to stir people's blood. For some, I am sure their blood is boiling about now. Remember, Peter said earlier that our lives as believers is built up step by step. It's not just a "poof!" and you have it. It takes some steps – one at a time or concurrently, but your life as a believer is interwoven with those qualities (see verses 5-7).

Then there is that statement in verse 10, "practice these things" that makes you go back to see what he is talking about. That statement is now underlined in my Bible, because it can only mean one thing – "Look at the list again!" Then the nagging – the stirring us up to action.

What am I missing today? Is it knowing or practicing that makes a difference? Maybe that's why Peter reminds us of those things. Besides, what's the difference between "these things" and "those things?"