But Grow

If I were too ask you to name a man that in his earlier years was overconfident when danger was near and who overlooked the warnings of his master what would your answer be? He would rush ahead when he should have waited; slept when he should have prayed; talked when he should have listened and he was courageous but careless. If you said the Apostle Peter you would have answered right. Now what does this man Peter have to do with each of us? Have you ever overlooked warnings? I remember a few years back my family and I took a vacation to the Grand Canyon. We were told before going to be sure that we had hiking shoes because many a person had lost their footing and went off into the Canyon. Well, I didn’t really know what to expect for all I had ever seen of the Grand Canyon were only pictures but none the less we purchased the hiking shoes. After arriving there I could understand why it was important to have this type of shoe.  I looked around and saw that there were a lot of other people not wearing hiking anything. Some had on sandals, flip flops and a few were bare footed. As I looked off into that Canyon it was a long ways to the bottom and I for one sure didn’t want to take that trip down. The next to the last day we were there I saw people doing dumb things. There were three young men jumping from one point to another; it was a short jump but had they missed their goal they would have went straight to the bottom of the Canyon. That afternoon I heard this lady scream and as I turned around to see where that scream was coming form I saw a lady go right off the edge.  She had not taken the precaution to wear hiking shoes and her footing gave way and off she went. Her family went to the edge and lucky for her there was another ledge just below her and she was just skinned up. The next time that lady goes to the Grand Canyon I assure you she will not be wearing sandals. As we follow the life of Peter we see that he also learned not to be so loose with what he has been taught. By the time the Apostle writes his second epistle he is now singing a much different tune. He tells his readers not to be negligent but to remember the things that you know and be established in the present truth.

2Peter 1:12  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

Then the next to the last verse in his letter he warns about being led away with the error of the wicked for it will cause you to fall from your steadfastness.

2Peter 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

At the close of Peter’s life he knows when to pray and when to sleep, he knows when to listen and when to talk. He gives us the secret in how this is done in the last verse of his letter. In order to know these things it takes some growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, then Peter says learn how to praise Him here and now each day that He allows us to live and whatever happens praise Him now and forever.

2Peter 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Have you grown in your Christian life or are you still struggling with the same old things that you did two years ago? When’s the last time you praised the Lord for the things going on in your daily life? Seven times Peter uses the word knowledge in this epistle and it’s about knowledge of our Lord and Savior. This should tell each of us the more we know about Jesus the more we’ll know how to live each day. The more we know about Jesus the more we’ll praise HIM!