The Light of Truth

2 Peter 1:12-15
12 Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.13 I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

In yesterday’s post, we saw Peter talking about what happens if we forget or act as if we have forgotten the promises of God. Peter called it being blind or shortsighted; James said it was being double minded. I used my “what time is it?” analogy. Today, we read how it is possible to not forget, become shortsighted, or act double minded: we need to be reminded often. Just because you’ve read something in the bible once doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it again. This is the importance of “diving deeper” studies, community groups, and repeating sermons. What good is a lesson if you don’t remember it?

I’ve fought for too long against the practice of memorizing scripture. Until, of course, I started experiencing spiritual warfare in my own life. The apostle Paul exhorts us to, “hate what is evil and cling to what is right.” How do we cling to what is right if we cannot remember it? I imagine being in a firefight but forgetting that I’m carrying a gun. A similar situation would be holding the gun and looking at it as if you’ve never seen it before and have no idea how to use it. You might as well be dead! Not only are you ineffective, you are now a liability to those around you.

Whether we like it or not, the day we decided to follow Jesus and His teachings to build our relationship with God, we declared war. Our spiritual enemy doesn’t care if you are just coasting through life. He doesn’t even care if you acknowledge his existence. He just cares when you start having a relationship with God because his own pride prevents his own relationship with God. Therefore, as vengeance fueled by pride, he makes every effort to impede our relationship with God. This is why he uses scripture against us, to confuse and confound us so that our relationship with God (and consequently everyone else) is tainted. If he can’t behold the power of God and a relationship with Jesus, then neither should we! This is the enemy we face and is the reason why we need to know and remember God’s truth, because it WILL be distorted. We mustn’t forget that the times that the devil appears in the bible to tempt others, he uses twisted scripture to confuse and convince us to do things.

But it isn’t possible to do this on our own, isn’t it? I mentioned earlier this week that God’s Holy Spirit in us is how He writes His truth upon our hearts, but we also have to remember to listen to it. This is why we need to surround ourselves with people and leaders who will remind, support, exhort, and correct us when our thinking, our theology, and our ideas about life begin to falter. They cannot make us do anything right or wrong, however they can remind us just as Peter does in this letter for his readers the truths of God. There are a lot of times someone tells us what we already know, but it usually helps to hear it, doesn’t it? I’ve caught myself a few times rejecting the truth that others were telling me because I was too proud to have the Light of Truth shined upon me, even though I needed it.

We need the Light of Truth to be shone upon the dark spots in our lives so that we can be free of them. This isn’t possible when we are being overcome with these things; rather we need the help of our friends to remind us of God’s truth to lift us out of that dark place and help guide us through the necessary processes to continue our sanctification. What lesson does God keep trying to remind you of through others so that you may be healed and freed?



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