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So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord\u2019s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:14-16)

Our faculties of perception need to be trained. \xa0I\u2019ve been reminded of this over the past few years as I\u2019ve attempted to teach our boys how to ride their bikes. \xa0Sure enough, my own driving instructor back when I was 15 said the same thing I find myself saying now. \xa0\u201cYour hands will go where your head goes.\u201d \xa0In driving, of course, you need to learn to cut this connection so that you can check your blind spots without running someone off the road. \xa0But for teaching kids to bike it is enough simply to say: \u201ckeep looking forward! Keep your eyes on the path!\u201d \xa0

Peter used the word for this phrase \u201clooking forward\u201d twice in yesterday\u2019s passage and again in the beginning of today\u2019s. \xa0From what Peter has earlier said about false teachers\u2014it seems that not everyone was \u201clooking forward\u201d to Jesus coming again. \xa0Instead, they were looking around with greed and lust at all the material satisfactions they could enjoy in this life. \xa0Jesus didn\u2019t seem to be coming anytime soon, so they contented themselves with living in the moment, rather than keeping eyes fixed on the Christ who stood ever before them. \xa0

This remains an easy distraction for us all. \xa0Jesus didn\u2019t come during our parent\u2019s lifetime, after all. \xa0Nor in that of our grandparents nor any of the hundreds of years before them. \xa0It is easy therefore to lose sight of the path\u2014the direction that history flows. \xa0It is easy to believe that the world we see is all there is. \xa0And if that\u2019s the case\u2014then we need to secure our own lives and resources, our own pleasures and purposes. \xa0If there is nothing beyond this world then the meaning of this life has to be something we forge in the fires of our own authentic refinements. \xa0Many people\u2014Christian and otherwise\u2014do exactly this. \xa0But are they looking forward? \xa0Are we?

Peter has spent his letter addressing, accusing, and correcting this at times malicious diversion. \xa0He has thumped the same theme over and over. \xa0The scriptures are reliable. \xa0Jesus is coming again. \xa0And judgement comes with him: setting things right, making things whole, and ensuring justice and righteousness flow. \xa0Remember, remember, remember and do not forget. \xa0Keep looking forward! \xa0Keep your eyes on the path!

Finally here at the end now, Peter begins to assume that we\u2019ve heard him. \xa0\u201cSince you are looking forward\u201d he says, \u201cpeddle toward the prize.\u201d \xa0At the beginning of the letter, we heard about the \u201ceverything\u201d gifts God had given to equip us for the journey of living out his calling. \xa0We were told then to add virtues to our faith. \xa0Now Peter wraps it up with the encouragement to reconcile the living of our lives with the one who stands before us. \xa0That \u201cauthor and perfector of our faith\u201d that the writer of Hebrews tells us to \u201cfix our eyes on.\u201d \xa0\u201cSince you are looking forward,\u201d Peter writes, \u201cmake every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him,\u201d that is\u2014with the one we\u2019re looking to. \xa0

So where are your eyes? \xa0Where your eyes go, your hands and energies in this life will go too. \xa0Keep looking forward, and let the vision of Jesus shape your living.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).

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