Use What You Understand

“¹⁴Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. ¹⁵And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, ¹⁶as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. ¹⁷You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” – 2 Peter 3:14-18 (ESV)

I know that is a pretty long passage this morning. As I complete my study of the word “understand”, these verses is where I was brought. The specific verse was 16, although after reading through the entire passage I wanted to be sure and capture it all.

I believe, as you notice in my writing, in the idea of understanding and knowledge as opposed to information and repeating. I also believe in the spirit of the words and caution to live by the exact phrasing. In order to “understand” there is more to simply reading the words.

As I review the entire passage, I see the word “diligent” in verse 14 and “grow” in verse 18. Those words indicate more study is necessary as opposed to just glancing over. I take it all in from the beginning to the end and work to make sense of the passage and how it coincides with what I am reading.

Verse 17 is the verse that really brings things home for me and my approach to learning and growing. I know that things are going to be hard to understand and with that in mind, it is my duty to spend more time with them and be patient with my learning. I have to be “diligent” in gathering information and “grow” in that knowledge so that I may “understand” and gain perspective and wisdom in that subject.

As it comes to God’s Word, I have duty to dive in and grow diligently in my understanding and use that knowledge to avoid the pitfalls that come with cursory information. I will be taking what I know and applying that to the path I have been directed to take from God.

Are you looking to diligently grow in understanding? What is your approach with information that you receive? Will you use that understanding in your daily walk with God?