Whoever does not have them [these seven virtues] is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1:9 (NIV)
If there isn’t a sense in your heart that “This is what I must pursue,” if there’s no correlation between Peter’s call and the pursuit of your life, there is something wrong with you. That’s what Peter is saying.
If you are a person who professes faith, but the goal of your life cannot be expressed in the pursuit of these things, something is desperately wrong. Peter uses three ways of describing what is wrong—nearsightedness, blindness, and forgetfulness.
If these virtues are not evident in you, then you are nearsighted. You can’t see into the distance. You’ve lost sight of the day when you’ll stand before the Lord and give an account of your life.
More than that, you are blind. You can’t see what is going on around you. You’re stumbling because you’ve lost sight of what you’re up against.
And you have forgotten that you were cleansed from your sins. You’ve forgotten what it means to be a Christian. If you have no desire to pursue a life that is holy, you’ve forgotten that Jesus came to save you from your sin and lead you into a different kind of life.
If it is not clear to you that this is the life God is calling you to pursue, and that you must pursue, then hear Peter’s message today as a wake-up call. There’s something wrong.
What is your response to this wake-up call on a scale from 1 (not a big deal) to 10 (something needs to change!) from God’s Word?
