Day 8- Learning How to
Live
After really connecting with Peter’s
journey out on the water yesterday, I decided to dive
into some of Peter’s own writings. I chose 2
Peter because of this intro before the book in my
Bible:
Teaching and learning is important
because it involves truth and error. What a student
learns becomes ingrained in the heart and soul. The
student develops an attachment to it. If this “learning”
is false- if the student comes to believe that something
untrue is actually true- so much the worse. It will
be hard to convince the person otherwise. And if the
truth or error involves our eternal destiny, the stakes
only go up. This is why Peter wrote his second epistle.
The Christian faith that Peter had faithfully preached
was not just a matter of philosophy. It was a matter
of eternal life and death. Yet there were those who
were peddling their own propaganda, falsehoods that
contradicted the truth. Peter had to say something;
he had to confront these falsehoods so they would
not be mistaken for the truth.
Some people will say that the Bible
is old and has no meaning any more, but it sounds
to me like times haven’t really changed all
that much. Peter’s letter to believers everywhere
is still needed to help us battle the same issues
today as 2,000 years ago.
Peter is addressing Christians, people
who have already placed their faith in Jesus Christ.
He begins by reminding Christians of the grace and
peace we receive from the knowledge of God and Jesus.
The word used for knowledge here describes a complete
knowledge, the kind of knowledge we obtain by maturing
in our faith in Jesus, a knowledge we gain by walking
out our faith.
In chapter 1 verses 5-11, Peter stresses
the things we need to strive for to be fruitful and
mature in our walk with Christ. It all starts with
our faith. Our faith in Christ marks the beginning
of our Christian life- “For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should
boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Peter goes on to list
all the qualities and actions we need to add to our
faith: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance,
godliness, brotherly kindness and love. At first glance,
I thought the list was no biggie, I might actually
be fairly on track. Then I looked at the breakdown
of each word. Virtue is a characteristic
of Christ, like righteousness, something you really
can’t become on your own but by listening to
and obeying the Holy Spirit you can begin to get a
peak at virtue in your life. Knowledge
is only gained through learning God’s Word and
putting it into practice in our lives. Self-control
means not to be controlled by your emotions but to
master them. Perseverance is steady
persistence in a course of action in spite of difficulties,
obstacles, or discouragement. Godliness
is conforming to the laws and wishes of God. Brotherly
kindness is a love that involves serving,
sharing with and praying for one another. And the
word love referred to here is God’s
kind of love which originates not in the one loved
but in the one who loves.
Now looking at that list, I realize
I have much to strive toward. Each of those characteristics
is dependent on another, like you cannot persevere
through difficulties if your emotions guide you through
life. You’ll give up at the first sign of trouble.
I know I can’t serve others unless I know how
to love like God loves. I certainly can’t relate
to godliness or virtue unless I have knowledge of
God’s Word. I’ve had little glimpses of
these, but unfortunately I can’t claim to have
completely added them to my faith yet. I have a lot
of learning and implementing still to do.
Working on my knowledge here on this
40 day journey is definitely opening my eyes to all
that is dependent on that knowledge of God’s
Word. How in the world do I expect to live a life
pleasing to God if I don’t even know what is
pleasing to Him?
Lord,
Thank You for continuing to open my eyes and heart
to Your Word and what You want for my life. The more
I am learning, the farther I feel I have to go, but
it’s an adventure I want to take. You paid for
my life with Yours, and I want to honor You with mine.
Thank You Lord for providing a way for me to truly
live out my life with purpose.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
