Have you ever noticed how little children when hurt always call their hurt an “ouchy.” In this second letter Peter uses this time to share an “ouchy” so that we may be on target and discerning.

Peter began his follow up letter to the ones he has come to love as only an apostle can with these thoughts: Your faith is precious! God has divinely bestowed precious promises upon his beloved children of whom we are. But, God also expects us to make every effort to add to our faith which includes exercising it just an athlete would do. If we fail to do that it is as if we are walking around with blinders on and acting as if we are blind; meaning spiritually blind. We fail to heed what 2Tim 3:16 says: “Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness”

Now our precious Apostle Peter stops as if in mid-sentence and with hasty warnings relays to us what may lay ahead if we fail to be discerning as Heb 5:14 tells us: But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil. Peter is saying watch for the warning signs just our beloved Paul told the Ephesian elders: I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. [Act 20:29]. As we read this chapter we can see that Peter’s heart is rushing full force ahead and he warns us of these wolves, these false teachers and if he were to ignore that warning it would be as if he were heartless and without love for the flock. Dr. Piper says it this way: “There are no commands, no admonitions, no imperatives in chapter 2; just pure, terrifying description of what will happen to those who fall prey to the false teachers in the church… 2 Peter 2 is aimed at keeping me from being a heartless pastor. It aims to keep me from playing games in this pulpit. It aims to keep my sermons from dissolving into pep-talks about the power of positive thinking. It aims to make me earnest about my calling and angry about false teaching and grieved over the destruction of the ungodly.”

Beloved, today remove your blinders, dig into the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to speak and teach you just as Jesus promised. “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you. “[Joh 14:26]. To fail to warn, admonish and call you to do this would be as if one who knew the cure for a disease and refused to share it. This is our “OUCH” chapter. May we read it and pray for our pastors, our Sunday School teachers; those in ministry and especially ourselves as well for we too disciple others.