A vital faith memo

Every day we’re asking four questions about part of the Bible. Today Owen Lynch answers:

What did I like about today’s passage?

2 Peter is the second letter written by Peter to a collection of house churches in what we call Turkey. We know that many of these churches had relationship with the apostle Paul as Peter makes reference to it in 2 Peter 3:16. [As an aside, I love the fact that Peter remarks that Paul’s letters contain some things that are hard to understand - if Paul’s arguments were hard to understand then, not surprising that we have to work hard to understand them now 2000 years later!]

Peter, like Paul is in prison in Rome (remember that Emperor Nero had blamed the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64 on this sect of Jews and Gentiles who were claiming that Jesus was the Messiah) and it is thought that Peter was executed as part of this purge. Peter is clearly aware that he might die soon, and this is one of the reasons that he writes to the Churches to encourage them to grow in their spiritual and emotional maturity (1:13-15).

Throughout the letter Peter is countering accusations made by some false teachers against himself, Paul and the other apostles. But first Peter issues a challenge to become emotionally and spiritually healthy (1:1-11). He says, Jesus’ divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him. In other words, we have everything we need to be spiritually and emotionally healthy through our intimate relationship with Jesus.

But it is a process and one that requires an element of intentionality. 1:5 - “make every effort… to add to your faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love.”

Peter knows that the journey towards spiritual and emotional health is a life-long journey that requires us to be intentional about it.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

I think it shows us that Jesus is committed to our spiritual and emotional health and that he is committed to walking with us on the pathway to maturity. Any covenant relationship like marriage requires each party to intentionally invest in the relationship and our covenant relationship with Jesus will only grow and mature to the extent that we are willing to commit to it.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I have been astonished by the stories of emotional and spiritual growth/health that have been told by many of you who have completed the Gold course and participated in the Faithwalking process. These pathways to spiritual and emotional health are so important to us as a church and I want to encourage everyone of us to make every effort to commit to our spiritual and emotional health. If you haven’t done it yet, sign up for the Gold course or the Faithwalking pathway - it will take some of your time and energy (and a small amount of money for Faithwalking), but it will be well worth it! I can testify that Faith-walking over the last two years has been so helpful to improving my spiritual and emotional health.

Who am I going to share this with?

All of you! Go to our website here.