Precious Memories

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

When I was a teenager I often walked across the cow pasture from my house to my Grandma Miller’s house.  She and I were buddies and I spent a lot of time in her kitchen where she taught me how to cook good, old fashion Southern recipes.  While we cooked or played cards she would tell me about the Great Depression and how she never really had a childhood.  She was a hard worker her entire life.  From the fields as a young girl to the ship yards of World War II and a laundry woman at the women’s prison, she was never lazy.  She was everything I wanted to be because I thought she was tough yet she knew how to be a keeper at home.   I can remember her standing beside me at the island in her kitchen, apron on, showing me how to make biscuits.  Even today when I make them I can hear her voice in my head, “Now, make a little well in the flour with your hand…” She didn’t make them and have me watch, she made me put my hands to work so that I could learn.  Those are precious memories to me.  At the time I didn’t think about her being gone or living in this world without her.  No, during those days I just listened and learned from her.  She was grandma and I loved her and knew she loved me so I listened.

The Apostle Peter had the privilege of learning from the Master in person.  He had watched Jesus heal the sick, cast out demons and feed thousands of people with a little boy’s lunch.  Jesus Christ was very real to Peter.  He was loved by Peter because Jesus had shown him love and grace.  So, in this final letter we have from Peter, I love it that the last thing he tries to get across to Christians is the fact that he wants us to grow in the knowledge of Christ.  Just like I try and pass down everything my grandma taught me and just like I tell my girls about the person she was, Peter is seeing Christ in his mind’s eye while he urges us to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”  Talk about precious memories, Peter had some! 

What Peter says proves that we can know the Lord on a personal basis and we can grow in that knowledge.  How?  By reading and studying God’s Word.  It is the only way we know the answers to the problems we encounter in this world.  It is how we know to take a stand against sin.  It is how we know to not follow after false doctrine and misinterpretations of the Scripture.  It is how we know how to behave.  We may not have walked with the Lord here on the earth as Peter did, but we can read the accounts we have of those days in the Bible. 

You have to make the decision to treat the Bible as more than an accessory to your Sunday morning outfit.  It isn’t a bobble to make you look pretty and nor is It a badge to show that you belong, the Bible is your spiritual food and water that will sustain you throughout each day.  You need It if you want to survive.  Go back and read 2Peter with the thoughts of his precious memories.  Read it realizing that after this was written Peter would be seized at some point by Nero and martyred for the cause of Christ.  He didn’t write this letter just playing around.  The Holy Spirit inspired these words and they can instruct us as we GROW in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

Grow or starve.  The choice is ours to make and I choose to grow.

Until next time, Lord willing,

Sheri