2 Peter 2:17-19

2 Peter 2:17-19

These are waterless springs and mists while being driven along by a squall – for whom the gloom of darkness has been kept.  For while speaking boasts of futility they entice in licentious desires of the flesh the ones who are barely escaping from the ones who are behaving in error.  Promising freedom to them, while they themselves are slaves of depravity, for to that which someone has been conquered to this they have been enslaved.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Peter continues to talk about the people who seek after their own desires in life.  He calls them waterless springs.  What is so special about a waterless spring?  A waterless spring promises relief but cannot deliver.  It gives every reason to believe that comfort is at hand when it is really completely out of reach.  A waterless spring is worse than no spring at all because of the unfulfilled promise that comes with it.

Do you know any waterless springs?  Do you know people who promise peace or grace or love or mercy yet seem to have no ability to actually produce it in life?

Second Thought:

Peter also calls these people mists while being driven along by a squall.  By calling them mists, he is calling them people who lack true substance.  A mist looks solid from a distance.  It may even look impressive from afar.  But when you actually get into the midst of a mist you realize that it is ethereal and lacking absolute substance.  Peter also mentions that they are driven along by a squall.  Because they lack substance, mists go where the wind pushes them.  Peter is telling us that when we lack genuine substance in our own life we are easily pushed from one thing to the next as our passions change and wrestle for control of our life.

Do you know people who are simply pushed along in life pursuing goal after goal but not actually achieving any of them?  Do you know people who look impressive from a distance but when you get to know them that there is no true substance within?

Third Thought:

Peter makes a really neat point in the last verse.  Those who are enslaved cannot offer freedom to others.  When we allow ourselves to be captive to our passion, we cannot possibly hope to help other people out of the captivity to their own passions.  When we have depravity in our own life, how will hope to help other people out of their own depravity.  If we cannot stand for truth in our own life, how will we ever have the courage to encourage other people to stand for truth in their life and the world around them?  No, we must seek truth in our own life first and then lead out of our own quest for freedom.

Do you have depravity into which you are enslaved?  How do you search for depravity in your life so that you are not being captive to it?

Passage for Tomorrow: 2 Peter 2:20-22