“Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth...Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance...Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance...This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.”
(2 Pet. 1:12,13,15; 3:1)
(2 Pet. 1:12,13,15; 3:1)
To quote a portion of a Zig Ziglar saying, “Repetition is the mother of learning…” Although Simon Peter seemingly had no formal education, he was nonetheless Bible taught and knew from Isaiah’s inspired writings that the best way to teach was by repetition. "Whom shall he teach knowledge? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line…” (vv. 9-10)
Those familiar with their Bibles are conscious of its repetition of certain truths. God knows we need to be constantly reminded of certain things in our Christian lives; He reviews truths. A truth that lies dormant will soon become stagnant.
One of the truths I try to keep regularly before my readers is that opposites often go together - as conjoined twins, or the two wings of a fowl. As the old song goes, “Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. You can’t have one without the other.”
Many saints desire a singular thing in their lives at the exclusion of the undesirable thing that accompanies it; that is, runs alongside of it. They want peace without fear, a joy with the absence of sadness, victory with any battle, etc. But how would we ever know we had the true one thing we longed for without the presence of the unwanted element to test the one?
One outstanding text that proves my point is found in 1 Cor. 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” In Joseph’s temptation, God did not remove
Pharaoh’s temptress wife, He made a way for Joseph to escape; she remained.
It is possible to enjoy friends, food, and life itself in the midst of storms. Jesus did. He ate a meal with His disciples, enjoyed their fellowship, and sang a song...all in the darkest hour of His life.
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
(Vivian Greene)
By An Old Disciple
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