For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:8-9

This morning Patrina and I watched the sunrise of first light in the United States at Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Along the way one of our friends stumbled and took a spill on the rocks on the summit as we prepared to watch the sunrise. He’s okay, but his accident does provide a word demonstration of the words Peter expressed in the verses above.

He described how we can be nearsighted and blind if we somehow forget how we’ve been forgiven of our sins. Another word for being nearsighted is shortsighted and that’s especially true if we lose sight of our long time goal in Christ.

Our faith is more than head knowledge, it is a faith of action. If we fail to act, then Peter uses the imagery of being nearsighted or blind and stumbling along the way resulting in a way of life that is ineffective and unproductive.

As I considered the verses above, I wondered how many of us determine our level of spirituality by the number of verses we have memorized? Or the time we spend reading and studying theology? Or something else associated with the “facts” of Christianity?

I am sure Peter would not dismiss knowing the facts of the Resurrection or the ministry of Christ or the value of the Old Testament), but in the verses above he refers directly to the qualities of the growing Christian he wrote of in the previous verses -moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and love for others).

Let’s remember that our salvation is not made up of the works we do, but that our growing daily walk in greater obedience is a reflection of what He has already given us. It is our actions that are observed by others and it is by the actions that we point people to or away from God.