Do All You Can Do

Do All You Can Do

If I could boil all that Peter said in his first letter to just a few sentences, it would be this: First it was written to God’s elect who had been given a new birth – who had been born again – who had been called out of darkness – who had returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls. Peter tells us that like newborn babies we should crave pure spiritual milk that we might grow; and that we should humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God – our faithful Creator – who will lift us and restore us, make us strong, firm and steadfast . . . all in due time.

And then how does he begin his second letter? To those who have received this kind of faith – the conviction that our faithful Creator has indeed called us out of darkness and given us new birth – that he is indeed the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls, and that He is indeed able to lift and restore us all in due time . . . if you have that kind of faith it will indeed lead to your becoming strong, firm and steadfast.

Again in this second letter, in the same vein as the first where he says that we have been given a new birth – that we have been born again, he adds the thought that by all He has given us we are able to participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires. Is that not what we have all hoped for? After years of trying to do right and not being able to, and it’s not just a new ability to resist, although there is some of that, but every bit as much, and really first, it is that we can now participate in a new nature and as a result can escape the evil desires?

I like the way Peter says really the same thing in both letters, just in a little different way. He ended his first letter with, humble yourselves before God and He will lift and restore you. He will make you strong, firm and steadfast. In this second letter, he puts it this way; make every effort to add to your faith the things you learn as you humble yourself before God, and as you add these qualities in increasing measure – if you do these things – you will never fail.

His message is the same. As newborn babies, crave the pure spiritual milk so that by it you will grow up. If you do that you are humbling yourself before God. And if you do that you will never fail.

This all says what I’ve concluded lately. It takes us doing all we can do to encourage you (which is what Peter was doing by writing these letters); you doing all you can do to press towards God; and God doing all He can do to lift and restore us. If I don’t do all I can do to help you, I leave you vulnerable to an enemy that is gunning for you. If you don’t do all that you can do to press, you leave yourself vulnerable. And if both of us are doing all that we can do, you can expect that God will do His part.

Now I could stop there and many of you could say that in spite of all you do, you don’t see God doing much. That is your enemy trying to get you to quit. Take those thoughts to God and say, God, I need to see evidence that you are mindful of me. And don’t let up until you see it. We have to see evidence. God knows we need it. If we don’t see it we get discouraged and think our Christianity didn’t take; that God has neglected us. That is exactly what your enemy wants you to think.

If the greatest truth in all the Bible is that God loves us, doesn’t it make sense that the greatest lie is that he doesn’t. Anything that causes us to take our eyes off God, anything that cools our will to seek Him, even discouragement, is a lie that we must learn to press through. As we add these qualities to our faith, we will never fail.

I just mentioned that Peter was doing his part to encourage by writing these letters. There’s actually a few things he says about that in his letters. In this second letter he says this, ‘I think it is right for me to refresh your memory.’ And then specifically, and again the point that it takes us all doing all we can, he puts these things in writing and is what he is referring to when he says, ‘I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.’ And finally he says, ‘I have written both of these letters as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.’

It is good and necessary to be encouraged or stimulated as Peter just put it. That is what I was thinking when I published my first book. I wanted a written record of what I had learned so that it might help someone even after I am gone. And now I have two other books and trying to figure out how to get them printed so I can leave them with you. It is a record of what has helped me. Maybe it will help you and others. Again, it takes us all doing all we can do.

Finally, in Peter’s 1st letter he tells us to ‘not conform to the evil desires we had when we lived in ignorance.’ And later he says, ‘abstain from sinful desires which war against the soul.’ But in his 2nd letter, he addresses how some of these desires can be stirred and warns us to look out for them.

You have to watch out for false teaching. False teaching is destructive. And it is not just people like us who come in here that you have to watch out for. They/we are the obvious. It can come from anything; the music you listen to; the TV you watch; the material you read.

It is all designed to seduce the unstable. ‘By appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity.’

In Peter’s first letter he ends with the thought that God will do all He can do to restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. Here in his second, after he has done all he could do, he encourages them now to do all they can do. ‘Be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’

It would do us all well to do all we can do.