Category: 2 Peter Devotionals

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2 Peter Devotionals

Seeing sin for what it is: vomit and mud

Pig slop and sin

It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.” (2 Peter 2:22-23)

Father, help me to see my sin for what it is: vomit and mud.

How often, though, do I get pulled back to it because I don’t see it as vomit and mud?

I don’t want to return to and eat my own vomit. I don’t want to go back to wallowing in the mud.

I want to be clean in your sight. So when the tides of my flesh, my instincts, feelings, and desires start pulling me back to that vomit and mud, help me to go against the tide and follow you.

Jesus, clothe me in your righteousness and holiness. I want to know the freedom and joy that is in you. In your name, I pray. Amen

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2 Peter Devotionals

Embracing our Father’s Promises

walking with our Father

His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by (alternate translation: “to”) his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3)

I was thinking about that alternate translation this morning. We are called to God’s glory and goodness.

Put another way, we are called to be like our Father. To take on his character in our lives. To shine his light to those around us.

And so Peter says,

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. (2 Peter 1:5-7)

And yet, while there is effort required on our part, God doesn’t just leave us our own and say, “Just do it.”

Rather, Peter tells us,

By these (his glory and goodness), he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 2 Peter 1:)

What promises?

Probably his greatest promises are that his Spirit is actually living in us, leading us and empowering us, interceding for us. (John 16:13-15, Romans 8:11-14, 26-27).

But we also have his promise that no matter how much we may struggle, our efforts will not ultimately be in vain. Because as John tells us,

We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

That’s what keeps me going whenever I see all the ways I fall short.

I don’t have to do this on my own.

My efforts will not be in vain. I will be like Jesus someday.

And until that day, I stand in grace. (Romans 5:1-2)

Father, thank you for making me your child. Thank you for your great and precious promises to me. I stand on those promises. Help me to become more like you each day. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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2 Peter Devotionals

Growing in grace and knowledge

 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18)

Lord, more than anything, I want to press into my relationship with you. To draw near to you. To access your grace in everything in my life.

Not just for forgiveness. Not just for salvation. But for everything.

I need your grace in my work. In my family. To grow in my character. To grow in love.

Teach me to walk with you moment to moment, day to day, depending not on my own wisdom and strength, but in your wisdom and resurrection power.

I want to know you, Lord. I want to know your heart. How you think. What you value.

So by your grace, Lord, draw me near to yourself. Help me to grow in your grace and knowledge. In your name I pray, amen.

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2 Peter Devotionals

Promising freedom

They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. (2 Peter 2:19)

In this passage, Peter warns against false teachers in the church.

The truth is, we are seeing a lot of false teachers in the church today. Teachers who treat the Bible as mere human words instead of as God’s words.

And so when culture goes against what the Bible teaches, these teachers go right along with the culture.

Our culture and these teachers promise people freedom by getting away from the teachings of God.

But this “freedom” actually destroys. It destroys people’s lives, and worst of all, it destroys their souls.

Jesus is the one who gives true freedom. And if we want to be truly free, we need to believe and cling to his teaching.

You cannot claim to be Jesus’ disciple while rejecting his teaching.

Let us always remember our Lord’s own words on this:

If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32)

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2 Peter Devotionals

To know God’s grace and peace

God's light breaking through

May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Peter 1:2)

I think all of us want God’s grace and peace in our lives.

And here Peter tells us how we can get these things.

It comes through a relationship with our Father and with Jesus. Not just knowing about them. But truly knowing them.

Because through that relationship, we have access to everything we need in life.

We have access to the power and wisdom we need to face life’s challenges and trials. To make our marriages work. To raise our kids. To heal our hurts. To forgive. To overcome the habits that are destroying us.

But most of all, to become more like our heavenly Father, being fruit and touching this world for him.

And as we see and experience all these things, God’s grace and peace are multiplied in our lives.

Do you want that in your life? I know I do.

I want to know You.
I want to hear Your voice.
I want to know You more.

I want to touch You.
I want to see Your face.
I want to know You more.” –Andy Park

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2 Peter Devotionals

Losing our stability

2 Peter

Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position. (2 Peter 3:17)

How is it possible to lose our stability as Christians? The easiest way is to start doubting God’s goodness.

Like the false teachers in chapter 2, for example, instead of thinking God’s commands are for our good, we start thinking we’ll find freedom only by throwing them away. (2:19)

Or like the scoffers in chapter 3, we mistake God’s patience for injustice. And because we start doubting whether Jesus will ever come, we wonder if it’s really worth it to live godly and holy lives.

Let’s not lose our stability as Christians. Instead, hold on to this unshakeable truth: God is good.

And holding on to that truth, let us revel in the grace God has shown us, striving to know our Lord better each day.

Or in Peter’s own words,

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. (2 Peter 3:18)

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2 Peter Devotionals

Paying attention to God’s word

2 Peter

We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:19)

“You will do well to pay attention to it.”

Those words struck me today.

So many people take God’s word lightly. Why? Mostly because they don’t really believe it’s God’s word. They think it’s merely the words and thoughts of people.

Certainly God used people to speak. But Peter points out:

Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (20-21)

This is not to say people merely dictated what God said. But the Holy Spirit guided their thoughts to express the truths God wanted to teach.

Jesus himself confirmed time and again their veracity and our need to believe them (Matthew 5:17-19, John 5:39, 46; 10:34-36, Luke 24:25-27)

How do you treat the Scriptures? Do you treat them as the words of mere humans? Or as the words of God?

In this dark world where truth seems increasingly murky, God’s word shines like a bright light, guiding our way until the day our Morning Star, Jesus, returns.

You will do well to pay attention to it.

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2 Peter Devotionals

By his righteousness, by his power, by his promises

2 Peter

The more I read this chapter, the more Peter’s words strike me.

He says in verse 2,

May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Peter 1:2)

How many of us know that grace in our lives? How many of us know God’s peace in our lives?

These are things that many Christians struggle to truly grasp in their lives.

Perhaps part of the reason is sections in the Bible like verses 5-10 where it almost sounds like, “It’s all up to you! Do your best to be a good Christian!”

But to pull those words out of their context is to lose sight of the grace and peace that God intends us to walk in.

Peter prays in this letter that grace and peace be multiplied to us through the knowledge of God and Jesus.

What knowledge is he talking about. Many things, I suspect, but we see some key things right here in this chapter.

First, we stand before God, not because of our own righteousness, but because of Jesus’.

That is why Peter can tell us that we have received a faith equal to the apostles themselves.

The apostles didn’t stand before God because they were somehow more godly than anyone else.

They had faults. They sinned. They failed.

But they stood because Jesus caused them to stand (Romans 14:4).

They stood in his righteousness, not their own. And so do we. That’s why we don’t have to worry about trying to earn our way into God’s good graces. We already have peace with him.

Second, God has given us the power we need in order to live as he has called us to. Peter tells us that God called us because of his own glory and goodness, not our own.

He knows we are weak in ourselves. And so he empowers us, giving us everything we need for life and godliness.

He doesn’t just say, “Good luck. You’re on your own.” Rather, he stands by us to help us every step of the way. All we have to do is ask.

More than that, he has given us his great and precious promises.

Promises that our sins are forgiven because of the cross.

Promises that when Jesus appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Promises that in the meantime, the Holy Spirit will dwell in us, leading us, guiding us, and empowering us to become more like Jesus.

These are the things we need to understand. And if we do, we will walk in grace and the peace of God.

And with that assurance and joy in our hearts, and by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, we start adding to our faith things like goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.

So let us meditate on Christ’s righteousness by which we stand, the power he provides, and his promises that make all these things possible.

And as you do, you will know the grace and peace of God in your life.