Pay Attention

DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER OF PETER

PAY ATTENTION

2 Peter 1:19-21

19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

NIV

Peter has just given his own testimony of the transfiguration of Jesus on the sacred mountain, giving firsthand knowledge of the divine nature of Jesus and that God, himself testified that Jesus was his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased. What more of truth would anyone need to pay attention to and see that any philosophies of the world are indeed hallow in comparison to the truth of God? But the real danger Peter is addressing is within the church itself. There were false teachers among these believers spreading all sorts of lies. The predominant falsehood was regarding future judgment and their present lives were a pattern for the future. This meant they were teaching there was no return of Christ. Heresy at its finest. That is why Peter spent so much time telling them and us about what we were to add to our faith. We are not certain if any of that type of teaching is going on today within the community of faith, as we cannot testify to every doctrine of each and every church in all the different denominations that exist today. Now, Peter moves on to tell us that if his personal testimony is not enough to pay attention to, that they should pay attention to all the prophets' words of old. It appears Peter is making the point that all the prophets that gave words concerning the coming Messiah are now more certainly true as the Messiah did come, the proof of their words are in Christ. Pay attention as we would to a light shining in a dark place. Just thinking about that gives us a clue to just how much attention we should pay to the truth about Jesus. Considering if we were standing in the darkness of places, a room with no light whatsoever, and someone walked in with a bright flashlight. It would be impossible for us to ignore that light, in fact, all our attention would be focused not just on the light, but what that light exposed to us in the room. What we did not know, standing in total darkness, was the room was filled with valuable treasure beyond measure. All the while we were in the darkness we had all this treasure available to us, but we did not know it until the light was shining on us. This is the truth Peter is making here. They were in darkness and now the light of Jesus has shined in their hearts, and with these heretical teachings threatening the vision they already received, trying to deceive them, Peter says at least pay attention to all the words of the prophets spoken about Jesus. Those words were not the words of men, made-up words, fashioned by the will of men for their own benefit, but by the inspiration of the Spirit. This is also what we should pay attention to amidst the multitude of voices that permeate the airwaves and various other digital media platforms. Voices spreading all sorts of various ideologies, philosophies, and theologies. However, we have the word of God. We have the words of the prophets, spoken through the power of the Spirit, concerning Christ. We have the firsthand accounts recorded in the gospels concerning Christ, and we have the testimonies of men like Peter, who wrote under the influence of the Spirit to give personal accounts of the divine nature of Jesus. We should pay close attention to these words, and not so much to the words devised by men to draw men to themselves, to obtain large followings in order to support their lavish life. Where is the humility of Christ in their lives? True a laborer is deserving of his wages. This was intended for the local pastor or shepherd that serves his flock. He is due his wage for his service of bringing the word of God to the people God has entrusted in his care. We do not know how Peter supported himself, but what we are certain is that he was driven by the Spirit to spread the truth regarding Jesus, about salvation is through faith in Jesus and Jesus alone, and that Jesus, being divine, being God, is coming back for his faithful people, to take them to where he is. This is the central focus of faith. We need to pay attention to the truth and only to the truth.