Shortsighted (3467) (muopazo from múo =shut + ops = eyes & source of English "myopia”) is literally one who is unable to see far off or who squints like one who cannot see clearly. He is myopic or nearsighted. Figuratively as used by Peter muopazo refers to one who lacks foresight or discernment & thus holds a narrow view of something. Myopia is a condition of the eye in which parallel rays are focused in front of the retina. Nearsighted people focus right in front of them, but the further out they look, the worse their vision becomes. Distant things are not in focus. That's what Peter is referring to spiritually. A professing Christian who is not working out his salvation with diligence as discussed in (see notes 2 Peter 1:5; 1:6; 1:7) has "spiritual myopia" and is unable to discern his true spiritual condition. Such a person will likely have a lack of assurance of salvation. He focuses on the earth and the things of the earth--the passing fads and fashions of the time. By the time he tries to look to eternity, it is so out of focus he can't perceive it. He is a victim of spiritual myopia. This person lacks the ability to see beyond the temporal to the eternal in everyday life situations and will live in doubt and fear as a useless, unfruitful believer. One can see no difference between this person's life and that of the lost man which is a sad commentary on any saint's life! Such a believer has spiritual myopia and so does not magnify the grace of Christ, for the fruit of his life does not evidence the qualities cited above. Jesus admonished His somewhat shortsighted disciples "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold I say to you lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.” (Jn 4:35). Life is too brief and the needs of the world too great for God’s people to be walking around with their eyes squinted because they cannot see clearly! When you ignore the eternal perspective and stare at the things of the earth long enough, one day you'll look up and you won't have any eternal vision. Be fruitful; don't be barren. APPLICATION: Let your life refute the cynic who said, ‘Christianity is an initial spasm followed by chronic inertia."’ Fix your eyes on Jesus (see Fix Your Eyes On Jesus - 44 excellent meditations), constantly conscious of His imminent return for... "When the heart has lost interest in the invisible, memory is brittle relative to things spiritual." -- Williams quoted by Hiebert ><> ><> ><> F B Meyer in his devotional for September 6 (Our Daily Walk) entitled "The Cure for Short Sight" writes... THE CHRISTIAN graces which we have to supply present themselves to the Apostle s mind as the golden links of a chain or necklace, which begins with Faith, and ends with Love, so that Faith and Love clasp in the centre (2Pe 1:5, 6, 7). The idea of lavish expenditure is here associated with the word translated "Supply" (2Pe 1:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11). Among the ancient customs of Greece, was the expression of goodwill to society on the part of leading citizens by the provision of public entertainments, in honour of benefactors, or generals returning victorious from war. Rich men craved permission to bear the cost, as in modem days men will endow hospitals and libraries. So the Apostle says, See to it that you spare no cost in the glorious provision of "these things"; spare neither thought nor pains, if only these Christian graces are in you and abound. Then, for you also, there will be a profuse expenditure of Heavenly welcome. You will not enter the Heavenly City unnoticed and alone. A choral and processional greeting will be yours. You will not enter the port like some water-logged vessel, but with colours flying and all sails set! (2Pe 1:11-note) Notice the order of these graces. Each is in the other like those Chinese boxes, each of which contains a number of smaller ones which fit inside. Opening the one marked Faith, manly courage should be discovered; opening courage, knowledge should present itself; from knowledge, we should come on self-control; within self-control should be patience; inside patience we have towards men should be godliness towards God; then we find brotherly love; and finally we come on Love! The Apostle says that those who lack "these things" are short-sighted--they see only the things of this world, not the real things of eternity. The tenth verse warns us that the careful culture of these things in the heart will prevent stumbling in the outward life (Jud1:20-24). So many people wait to feel good before they act goodness. The Divine method is to step out on the path of obedience to Christ, believing that He will supply the needed grace. PRAYER: Accept, O Most Merciful Father, of this renewed dedication which we make of ourselves, our bodies, souls, and spirits unto Thee. Grant that we may be like Jesus, pure and undefiled, meek and gentle, peaceable, patient, contented and thankful. AMEN. (F B Meyer. Our Daily Walk) ><> ><> ><> HAVING FORGOTTEN: lethen labon (AAPMSN): Having forgotten (2983) (lethe from which we derive our English word “lethargy”) and means to not recall information and thus to lose sight of its significance. Lethe can be translated as to forget, to not remember, to lose sight of, or even to ignore. The mythical river Lethe was supposed to cause forgetfulness of the past to those who drank of it. In one sense all believers are to forget the past for "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (2Cor 5:17) . We should not be haunted by guilt, for our past sins which have been forgiven. Neither should we rest upon the laurels of past achievements but like Paul (who had a few sins he needed to forget and a few laurels he might remember) we need to forget "what lies behind & reaching forward to what lies ahead, ... press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Php 3:13, 14-see notes Php 3:13; 3:14). When we fail to "press on" and diligently pursue the spiritual virtues Peter has enumerated above, we begin to develop "spiritual amnesia" so to speak. Such a person, unable to discern his spiritual condition, will have no confidence about his profession of faith. He may be saved and possess all the blessings Peter has described but without the personal pursuit of holiness described in (see notes 2 Peter 1:5; 1:6; 1:7), he will very likely live in doubt and fear. Note that some commentators say this phrase refers to unbelievers, but this fails to take into account the context of his readers (like faith, partakers of divine nature, etc). Wuest has a pithy description of this forgetful saint as one... who has wandered far from the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. He is carrying around with him his justification, but not availing himself of his sanctification. He is not stone blind. He has some spiritual sight But the light of the Word dazzles his sin-sick soul as he turns his dimmed, spiritual eyes away, a sad situation in which to be. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans) HIS PURIFICATION: tou katharismou: (2Peter 2:18, 19, 20; Ro 6:1, 2, 3, 4,11; Eph 5:26; Heb 9:14; 1Pe 3:21; 1Jn1:7) Purification (2512) (katharismos from katharizo = make clean from which come our English words cathartic or catharsis which means a cleansing) was used to refer to cleansing from ritual contamination or impurity. The verb form (katharizo) was used to refer to cleansing from leprosy in (Mt 8:2-3) where "Jesus stretched out His hand and touched (the leper), saying, "I am willing; be cleansed. (katharÃzo)" And immediately his leprosy was cleansed (katharÃzo)." Can you imagine a leper who was once cleansed "forgetting" his former repugnant condition? Hardly. And yet Peter says that failure to diligently pursue holiness leads believers ("spiritually cleansed lepers") to develop spiritual amnesia as it were. If we forget what God has done for us, we will not be very excited or likely to share Christ with others. Not only that but we leave ourselves open to the temptations and lies of the evil one and the false teachers described in Chapter 2. FROM HIS FORMER ("OLD") SINS: ton palai autou hamartion: Former (3819) (palai) refers to that which is in the past or lies behind. These old sins have been cast into the sea forever and God has posted a "No Fishing" sign. Sins (266) (hamartia) originally had the idea of missing mark as when hunting with a bow and arrow. Later it came to mean missing or falling short of any goal, standard, or purpose. Hamartia in the Bible means to miss God's mark and ultimately to miss the true purpose and end of our lives which is God Himself. John MacArthur summarizes this section writing that Where you have the increase of moral virtue, you have the evidence of salvation. Where you have the absence of the increase of moral virtue, you have the lack of assurance of salvation. One's assurance of salvation is directly related to what's going on in his life. Those people who do not see the virtues on the increase in their life will not remember that they have been purged....the failure to diligently pursue spiritual virtues produces spiritual amnesia. The failure to pursue moral excellence in one's life, the failure to pursue these seven virtues will dim one's vision of his own spiritual condition. And there will be no memory of salvation at some point. And one will not know whether he's really saved. Oh he may remember some external activity that he might have gone through at the moment that he was saved, but he will not have the confidence of salvation....Now mark this, that kind of forgetfulness leads to repeating the old sins. So there you have two options....A believer who has these qualities and virtues increasing will enjoy assurance because he'll see the fruit and the usefulness in his own life. And he'll see that he's in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, a believer who does not pursue these virtues and lacks these qualities increasing will forfeit assurance." Matthew Henry sums up this saint's sad state writing that "This present evil world he can see, and dotes upon, but has no discerning at all of the world to come, so as to be affected with the spiritual privileges and heavenly blessings thereof. He who sees the excellences of Christianity must needs be diligent in endeavors after all those graces that are absolutely necessary for obtaining glory, honour, and immortality; but, where these graces are not obtained nor endeavored after, men are not able to look forward to the things that are but a very little way off in reality, though in appearance, or in their apprehension, they are at a great distance, because they put them far away from them; and how wretched is their condition who are thus blind as to the awfully great things of the other world, who cannot see any thing of the reality and certainty, the greatness and nearness, of the glorious rewards God will bestow on the righteous, and the dreadful punishment he will inflict on the ungodly! But this is not all the misery of those who do not add to their faith virtue, knowledge, etc. They are as unable to look backward as forward, their memories are slippery and unable to retain what is past, as their sight is short and unable to discern what is future; they forget that they have been...laid under the obligations to holiness of heart and life...engaged in a holy war against sin, and are solemnly bound to fight against the flesh, the world, and the devil. Often call to mind, and seriously meditate on, your solemn engagement to be the Lord’s (holy bride), and your peculiar advantages and encouragements to lay aside all filthiness of flesh and spirit (having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust)." ><> ><> ><> Identity Crisis - Several years ago I read about a young husband who forgot that he was married. According to the newspaper account, the day after the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon, the husband was 3 hours late getting home from the office. Dinner was burned--and his bride was burning mad. He had absentmindedly gone to his mother's house! That's a funny story. But when people who belong to the Savior suffer from a similar memory problem, it's not very humorous. The apostle Peter reminded those of us who have entered into a relationship with Jesus that we are not what we used to be. As God's people, we should always keep in mind that we have been cleansed from our old sins (2Pe 1:9) and that we have a new purpose in life. We who are united to Christ need to remind ourselves continually that we belong to Him, and we are to choose to live for His glory. By studying the Scriptures, communing with the Father, and fellowshiping with His children, we can avoid the spiritual identity crisis of forgetting who we are. Believer, you have been spiritually reborn into God's family. Failing to remember this will result in something far more serious than a burned dinner (2Pe 1:8, 9, 10, 11). --M R De Haan II (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/2_peter_18-14.htm#Shortsighted