17 Aug Nearsighted Lessons from My Jeep
2 Peter 1:5-9 – For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
My current daily driver is a four-door lifted Jeep Wrangler. It has a lot of features that I enjoy. It also has one feature that I do not enjoy. Since I drive it off-road in the mountains, I keep breaking windshields. It feels like I could replace the windshield every time I stop to gas it up. Currently, I have three cracks nearly the entire length of the windshield that makes driving a bit like looking into a funhouse carnival mirror where everything is distorted. On a recent drive down from the mountains, I was looking at the cracks and apparently got “nearsighted” and starting driving like someone who was “blind” to quote Peter. By simply taking my eyes off the road for a few moments to focus on the windshield, I veered off course quickly.
This same thing happens a lot in our life. The people and problems in front of us can cause us to get nearsighted and veer off the course of God’s will for our life.
Perhaps the most common culprit is the phone that we keep looking at rather than looking up to God. To correct this problem, Peter encourages us to look down the road into the future and drive toward eight areas of growth to pursue in our character:
- faith – deeper trust in God
- virtue – consistent character that does not change
- knowledge – increased wisdom starting with Scripture
- self-control – dominion over your emotions/desires/impulses
- steadfastness – endurance/perseverance/fortitude/resilience in the face of hardship
- godliness – loyalty to God above all else
- brotherly affection – love for fellow Christians like a healthy family
- love – non-sexual, non-selfish care for everyone including strangers and even enemies
What people or problems are currently causing you to be nearsighted? Which of the eight character qualities should be your first priority in this season?
To download the free e-book Power Under Pressure which is a study in 2 Peter for individuals, groups, and families from Pastor Mark click HERE. To listen to Pastor Mark’s 4 sermons on 2 Peter preached in the summer of 2020, visit legacy.realfaith.com. These and other resources are made possible by our ministry partners who support Real Faith as a Bible teaching ministry of Mark Driscoll Ministries to whom we say THANK YOU!
