Photo from the Sault Star, Salt Ste. Marie, Ontario 1972.
Every time I left the house as a little boy my mother said, “Be careful.”
It was such a constant greeting that I interpreted it more as a salutation than actual advice. “Be careful” was her way of saying goodbye—or that’s what it seemed like at the time. I took it to mean, “I love you and I’m worried about you.” I never thought about it after I walked out the door. Not once. Not once while trying crazy stunts on my bike did I ask myself, ‘am I being careful right now’? I wanted to be brave and manly and have adventures.
But my dad said it too—not every day. He knew careful was the last thing I wanted to be. But sometimes he stopped me on my way out the door, looked me deep in the eye, pausing to get my attention, and then he said: “You be careful out there.”
That would stick with me. For about two seconds. It was not until I was nearly grown that I began to understand the way that being careful can save a person so much grief.
Do people in your life repeat themselves? Do you ignore them because you’ve heard it all before? Simon Peter knows he repeats himself. But he defends the practice, arguing some messages bear repeating:
“Therefore, I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you have. I consider it right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder, knowing that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has also shown me” 2 Peter 1:12-14.
Wait! Did you catch that last part? Peter reveals that Jesus has shown him he will not live much longer. That is an amazing revelation—can you imagine hearing that from God?
Peter knew his days were numbered, and what did he do? He chose to spend his days repeating himself, teaching again the things he had been teaching for years.
People often say you should live each day as though it were your last day on earth. Peter is doing just that by continuing to teach Christian discipleship. But what if his audience already knows what he is saying?
Peter did not care. He admitted as much:
“I will always remind you about these things, EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW THEM” 2 Peter 1:12.
The fact that listeners know something is not a reason to stop saying it. Have you ever listened to a song more than once? Watched a movie or read a book more than once? Do you tell someone you love them one time, then never mention it again?
If, like Peter, I knew my days were drawing to a close, I would repeat the basics too. Here are some truths I would emphasize, a summary of Bible truths I find most important to teach:
Read the Bible, study the Bible, memorize parts of the Bible, learn how to do research, learn how to go to the Bible with every topic, every question, every cause, every current event.
Seek wisdom in this ancient collection of 66 books that you can apply to every aspect of modern life.
Read all the Bible, not just the New Testament (but put off the hardest parts until you are ready).
Learn to reconcile topics that appear contradictory, such as law and grace.
Approach the end times prophecies of our future by understanding truths from fulfilled prophecies in our past.
Never put God in a box, but remember He is bigger than any one man’s opinion. If you can’t figure out something in the Bible, trust God and wait for Him to reveal the answer in His time.
Never place faith in men, no matter how godly they appear or how much you love them, and never lose faith in God who is infinitely greater than the godliest of men.
The basic truths of the Bible are golden nuggets, precious jewels. Pull them out and study them every day! No matter how well you think you know God’s word, there is always more to learn. And the better you know God’s word—God’s story—the more you love to hear it!
“I love to tell the story
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest
And when, in scenes of glory,
I sing the new, new song,
‘Twill be the old, old story,
That I have loved so long.”
–“I Love to Tell the Story,” by Arabella Katherine Hankey, verse four.
Never be afraid to repeat yourself, if you are repeating God’s word. The words you are repeating are not wasted words, but are in fact, the most efficient, valuable words you can speak. Because God’s word is never wasted.
“My word shall not return void but shall accomplish what I desire” Isaiah 55:11.
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Household Words: 