Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers....

Peter
~A disciple of Christ. His name means "rock". Thought to be unpretentious, honest, open.. Martyred for His faith. It is even thought that when he was killed, upon his request he wanted to be upside down because he did not see himself honorable enough to die in the same position as his master Jesus Christ.
In 2 Peter, he writes about how so many believers are seeking an abundance of grace from God, but deny themselves the knowledge of who the Lord is and what His Word is. We have everything we need to live a godly life- we have the most amazing book designed to guide us and teach us, we live in a society where we can freely express our faith, God has gifted so many in wise counsel that we can seek out, and of course we have the ability to walk and talk with God everyday, all day. So why are we still struggling to live godly lives? Why do we think we should receive blessings and grace when we have done nothing and put forth zero effort to get to know our creator?
Peter tells us to make every effort to respond to God's promises that we can escape from the world's corruption and human desires because of His glory and excellence. It is true that God desires faith, but faith needs to be more than just believing in the facts of the Bible, but it should result in action-- growing in our characters as children of God- learning more of who His character is so that we can strive to be like Jesus. We should also practice, practice, practice-- we need discipline! We need to know God better- just like if you want to play a sport better, you have to practice so you are familiar with all the plays, names of the plays, how they operate, how they can be used against you, etc..
Peter goes on to tell us that the more we grow like this, the more productive and useful we will be in our knowledge of the Lord-- He says to work hard to prove that we are the chosen ones! More specifically, what really sparked a familiarity for me, was when he says that we should live like this with discipline, seeking knowledge, etc, so that we don't make up stories!! What an influence we have on people we placed in high regard as believers and teachers-- what we say makes a difference!! So let's not get it wrong and teach as false teachers.. but appear and be as we really know who Christ is, let it be obvious we have been spending time with Him.

I was incredibly challenged by the words of Peter... We learn so much from Christ's disciples and we should strive to be like them as well. Oh, we can't forget- since this is my favorite part of all scripture-- we are reminded to LOVE others! yay, love:)