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Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. (2 Peter 3:1-2)

Remember what Peter said in chapter 1 about the importance of remembering? \xa0Peter isn\u2019t so sure you do\u2014so here come those memory words again! \xa0Over the course of this chapter, more encouragements are given to shore up our memory and stave off our forgetfulness.

In case you forgot you were reading 2 Peter\u2014Peter is here to tell you. \xa0And he doesn\u2019t only wish to tell you that he has written, but why. \xa0These letters are \u201creminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.\u201d \xa0He wants us to \u201crecall\u201d the scriptures\u2014both Old and New Testaments such as they were in his day\u2014and so be grounded again in a firm foundation from which a wholesome life in Christ can be imagined and lived. \xa0

The Christian life is a life of apprenticeship to Jesus as we come to know him more deeply through the Bible and conversations with him directly in prayer. \xa0There is nothing new or fancy or complicated about it. \xa0So Peter hammers home the same thing again and again. \xa0\u201cRecall the words\u201d of the scriptures, he says.

Of course, this reminder needs to be given, because it is so easy to take all that God has done for granted as we (again) talked about yesterday. \xa0Precisely because we are \u201cfree in Christ,\u201d there is no whip on our back driving our obedience or coercing our response. \xa0Instead comes an invitation: \u201cremember and believe.\u201d \xa0\u201cRecall.\u201d \xa0\u201cLet your mind be stimulated to the wholesome virtues that are the gifts of Christ\u201d as you remember all God has given you through these letters.

Remember, remember, remember. \xa0Peter drums away at the theme. \xa0A broken record that repeats the things we already know over and over is no sin, because knowing something in the deep ways of habit and muscle memory takes exactly this: time, attention, and repetition. \xa0So today, if you\u2019ve already forgotten the list of virtues to add to your faith\u2014go back and read it again. \xa0Start right at chapter 1, verse 1 and recall again what you already know: the \u201ceverything\u201d that God has given us to make his calling in our lives sure.

Against the false teaching we heard about in the previous chapter, ultimately what Peter offers here in these reminders is the ability to come back to ourselves\u2014to remember what we have known, to return to our first love, and think again on what we have first believed. \xa0The world is full of distractions that put us to sleepy forgetfulness. \xa0This letter comes to us as the whisper that awakens prodigal daughters and sons from their sleepwalking to recall the home of the Father with its lavish gifts and place of belonging. \xa0It is the invitation to come home.

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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