Dear Faith Family,
Peter's two letters are a constant source of challenge for me. Chaz set us on course through the first letter earlier this summer, and we'll find our way into the second letter in the Fall.
Each time I read them, I am reminded that the author walked with Jesus in the flesh as "an apostle of Jesus Christ...a witness to the sufferings of Christ" (1 Peter 1:1, 5:1). Knowing what we do of Peter's life, we know that he followed Jesus, showing faith, utterly failing, and empowered in his commission for service only after an up and down apprenticeship. And so, Peter writes to women and men like us, ones "who have obtained a faith of equal standing," from a place of true companionship as "a fellow elder" under the care of "the Chief Shepherd" (2 Peter 1:1, 1 Peter 5:1,4).
Peter is very much like us, even in his very much trying to be like Jesus. Each time I reread his letters, his empathy grows clearer. Perhaps this is why his letters challenge me so. There is no pretense or air superiority, only one in awe of Jesus' person, power, and grace, writing to his "beloved" as a true spiritual friend who is accompanying them on the long journey home to the Father.
I believe Peter desired his first-century faith family to receive his words in such a way, as from a spiritual companion, rather than "the pillar of the church"...
Certainly, Peter was "the rock," but what he learned from a life with Jesus and how he writes to his fellow apprentices reveals one clothed with humility. And so, I cannot help but read Peter's letters as written from one spiritual friend (albeit a much wiser one) to another. And from such a vantage, I find it hard to dismiss my friend's exhortations in the life of faith.
For example, one characteristic our spiritual companion Peter admonishes in us is urgency. His consistent appeal to "the end of all things" and constant imploring to prepare "for action" and to "arm yourselves" leaves us in little doubt that our daily journey is through terrain where "war against your soul" is waged. And yet, missing in our friend's letter is any sense of panic.
Peter is urgent but not anxious. He recognizes the immediate and eternal current he is caught up in but is not scrambling amid the turbulent waters. Instead, he assumes peace in abundance!
"May grace and peace be multiplied to you...Peace to all of you who are in Christ."
(1 Peter 1:2, 5:14)
Peter's unanxious urgency challenges me. On the one hand, his passion challenges my apathy. If I'm honest, I'm prone less toward zeal than I am toward atrophy. Like Peter, I recognize the stream of history, but unlike Peter, such knowledge does not always heat up my daily activities. Rather, the temperature cools in my self-assurance of the situation. Peter's action-oriented urgency challenges my stoic realism, encouraging me that the reality of Jesus' rule and opposition to it is means everything (relationship & responsibility) takes place on the precipice of eternity! How can I be anything but urgent under these conditions?
On the other hand, Peter's lack of panic and unanxiousness challenge my tendency to grasp for control amid the chaotic currents. Peter neither underestimates the immediate and eternal importance of each day's breath nor does he overestimate his role within it. Somehow in his life with Jesus, Peter has learned to act with conviction and purpose within his limits. He recognizes not only what he is caught up in, but also who is doing the catching.
Peter knows what's at stake, for himself and others, in each day's dealings in this world, and so he enters life with urgency about him. He also knows that he neither started nor finishes the great story he is immersed in, but he knows the One who did and does! And so he enters every day at peace, passionate to play his part, and for you and me to do the same.
This is just one example of how our spiritual companion Peter challenges me in my life of faith in Jesus. He has proven to be a true friend, encouraging and equipping me to listen and respond to our Father through the Spirit. I pray he'll be the same for you.
So then, might I encourage you in this month between Peter's letters to re-enter them? Remembering that they are words from a spiritual companion. Allowing them to challenge you and us as good, wise words from a friend in Jesus should.
Love you, faith family! May grace and peace be multiplied to you this week. God bless.