2 Peter 2:10b-16
Bold and arrogant, they do not tremble while blaspheming
glory; whereas angels, while being great by strength and power, do not bring blasphemous
judgment against them from the Lord. And
these ones, as animals without reason having been born into a nature of
capturing and destruction in which they are ignorant while blaspheming, will also
be destroyed in their ruin: while being harmed as wages of unrighteous
wrongdoing, while happily considering a life of luxury in the daytime, stained
and blemished while reveling in their deceptions, while feasting with you all,
while having eyes full of adulteresses and unceasing sin, while enticing uncertain
souls, while having hearts having been trained in greed, children of a
curse! While abandoning the straight
way, they wander off the path. After
following the way of Balaam of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,
but he was rebuked of his own lawlessness – a speechless donkey who spoke with
a voice of a human prevented the prophet’s madness.
Thoughts for Today
First Thought:
Peter gives us a really neat perspective on God’s
angels. Even though they are blasphemed
by human beings, they do not bring judgment upon them. What we have here is a great example of the
divine. We sin against God and He not
only forgives us but provides His Son to make atonement for us. The angels are more powerful than us, but
even when we speak against them they do not feel the need to bring charge
against us. The divine character is not
a character that feels the need to exert itself upon lesser forms. Rather, the divine character is a loving and
forgiving character than not only turns the other cheek but is willing to work
in favor of those who appear to be enemies!
How do you treat those who come against you? Where in your life are you able to imitate
the divine character of forgiveness and love?
Second Thought:
Furthermore, Peter gives us an extensive list of traits of
people who are bringing condemnation upon themselves through their thoughts and
actions. What is striking about this
whole list is how many of them are truly rooted in self-centeredness. Peter talks about greed, which is the
accumulation of wealth for one’s own use.
Peter talks about lying and deception, which is certainly a selfish
pursuit meant to keep truth to one’s self.
Peter talks about adultery and sexual sin, which is clearly a
self-centered pursuit. This is such an
important point in contrast to my first point for the day. The divine character thinks of others and
doesn’t need to be better than everyone else even though the divine is clearly
superior. Humans, however, tend to focus
on ourselves and try to dominate over one another in our self-centered
pursuits.
Where do you struggle with self-centered thoughts? Where does this get in the way of imitating
the divine? Do you think God is
righteous in judging our self-centered nature?
Third Thought:
I genuinely love the way that Peter
wraps up this section by talking about Balaam.
What I love about this is Peter’s underlying point. The speechless donkey understands the danger
of Balaam’s human nature. Yet, Balaam
himself can’t see what he is doing.
Human beings think we know so much.
We think we are in charge. We
think we are so smart. We think we
understand consequences and choices. But
in reality we are so blind. We often don’t
understand the consequences of our choices, especially when it comes to the
choices we make with ourselves in mind.
Where are you blind to yourself and
your own choices? Why do you think human
beings have such a huge blind spot when it comes to ourselves?
Passage for Tomorrow: 2 Peter 2:17-19
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