2 Peter 1:1-11

2 Peter 1:1-11 … Peter’s second letter, addressed to believers, begins with an uplifting blessing that grace and peace be multiplied in a certain way, which is this: “through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” That’s particularly important because it stresses that those blessings of grace and peace are multiplied as we “know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3). This passage of eleven verses is packed with biblical truth and is difficult to summarize in a few words, but we can certainly grasp the main point which is vitally, vitally important to those who have placed their faith in Jesus as Savior. Here’s the point: God has given us certain assurance (v.4) that we can share in His divine nature (be like Him in certain respects, called the communicable attributes of God) and in so doing avoid much of the terrible sinfulness that corrupts the world around us. That certainly ought to get our attention!

We can gain access to God’s precious promises through a bit of diligence on our part through adding strong qualities to our characters (v.5-7, which is a great memory passage, by the way … memorize it and then put it into practice!). Qualities like goodness, mercy, and self-control are all part of what we ought to practice.

Then, here’s the clincher (v.8), these qualities will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive. I don’t know anyone who wants to be ineffective or unproductive, so this is something we want to give real reflection, not for just these few moments of reading, but for an extended period of time. This is the kind of thing you want to put on your refrigerator (or wherever you put notes you want to always have in front of you) and give it continuing attention.

One more thing: don’t miss 2 Peter 1:10-11 – “… if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”