In Peter’s second letter to the exiles of the early church, 2 Peter, he warned them about the false prophets and teachers who would come, claiming the name of Jesus, but in reality, these “prophets” wouldn’t even believe in the name of their Maker. In this warning, he described some characteristics of these false prophets and teachers, including things like they will exploit you with false words, follow sensuality, blaspheme the truth, and they will love gain from wrongdoing.
I don’t know about you, but that would make me want to run in the other direction. The thing is, though, if they are so crafty and swift with words, how do we know when we hear their false teachings? Obviously, we need to know because they didn’t just exist in the times of the early church, but they are still very much here today. And if we don’t know how to spot the teachings of them and recognize the voice of the enemy speaking through them, we very likely may fall prey to them.
That does bring up one question, though, that I think Peter includes the answer to in his letter for a reason.
Who is their target?
If they are so swift, surely they know their audience. Surely, they know who is most likely to easily fall prey to their lies.
Well, in 2 Peter 2:14, Peter answers that question.
He says, “They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!”
Ok, so if unsteady souls are who they entice, how do we not become one, or how do we get away from being one?
Looking through Scripture, God showed me the answer to that or at least some of them. I’m sure there are more, but I want to share three with you because now more than ever, we have words entering into our hearts and minds from everywhere. I can look around my room and name multiple sources just on one shelf or on my nightstand, which can be great if we’re careful. But if we’re not “steady” and discerning, we can let things in and become blind to the truth of the Gospel.
I think that’s part of the reason why the Israelites fell into so much sin and into forgetting God. They allowed the false teachings and practices of the nations around them to change their thoughts and to rule their life. In Isaiah 29:13-14 it says, “And the LORD said: ‘Because this people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
The Israelites stopped putting God’s Words in high authority and instead chose to listen to the “wisdom” of men. In the past, they longed to hear God speak, but they fell into wanting to hear what sounded good to their ears. (Isaiah 30:10, “who say to the seer, ‘do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘do not prophesy to us what is right, speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,'”)
If the nation that saw a sea parted, the walls of Jericho fall down, a giant killed with a stone, the fire of the Lord lead them by night, an army defeated with clay jars and horns, and many, many more miracles, if they became unsteady and fell prey to idols, sin, and false teaching, then how important is for us to know how to not do that, too? Unbelievably so.
The first way that we can make sure we don’t become unsteady souls is obvious, but nonetheless, it is a crucial step to the process.
#1- Know the Truth.
See? I told you it was obvious, but if we have any fighting chance of pushing and sorting through the false teachings and standing up against them, we MUST know the Truth. I don’t mean just passively know the Gospel either. I’m talking about having it written on your heart and circling through your mind.
I don’t know about y’all, but I can memorize song lyrics like *that* and have them circle through my head all. day. That can be great if they’re good and Truth-filled, but that’s not my point. My point is if we can memorize lyrics so easily all the time, we can’t make the excuse we don’t have time to memorize Scripture or that it’s too hard.
It’s time to push past the excuses.
But even if you love memorizing the Word and do it all the time, it’s still necessary to remind ourselves. In 2 Peter 1:13-15 Peter says, “I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.”
Now, keep in mind that Peter is talking to exiles of the early church. They had had to flee from their homes because they would most likely have been killed otherwise, so if anyone knew the gospel, it was probably these people. Yet, Peter is STILL making it clear how important it is to know the Truth and to have it in your minds.
#2- Find freedom in the Truth.
One thing that comes to mind for me when I hear “unsteady souls” is I think of someone who is searching or longing for something more, someone who might easily gravitate towards whatever promises to fill that longing.
That would definitely make anyone a target for the false prophets and teachers Peter talked about, and he made that very clear when he said, “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” (2 Peter 2:19)
Some of that reminds me of the tactics of the enemy. You see, he likes to get you to believe a lie that what he has and what the world has will bring freedom, and he’ll make this jail cell of lies look really comfy for you. But once you’ve bought into the lies, suddenly the jail cell doesn’t look so comfy anymore. All of a sudden, it seems a little more restricting and not at all like the advertisement that promised freedom.
But God doesn’t work that way at all. What He says is Truth, and it always stays the same.
In John 8:32 Jesus said, “and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”
I can promise you from experience that this is real, and whenever you know that you are loved, chosen, and forgiven, you will be set free. You will no longer experience the longings that used to eat you up.
First, though, you have to allow God to teach you that you are being sought out and that you don’t need to search for more, and once you’ve done that, you will experience true freedom. I promise.
#3- Be a doer and not just a listener.
This is the last and probably hardest one on my list, but it is a very crucial piece to the puzzle.
In order to not become unsteady souls, or in order to get away from being one, we cannot just hear the Truth, believe it, and find freedom in it, but we also must practice it in our everyday lives.
In the first part of Peter’s letter, he makes the case that by practicing what God’s Word says, we come to have more knowledge of Jesus, and he then goes on to say, “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”
That’s a pretty bold statement to make, but it is not the only Scripture which says something like that
In James 1:22-24 the Bible says, “But be doers of the Word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves, for if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”
Clearly, the command of the Bible is not just to listen to what it says but also allow it to completely transform us, how we act and our heart, because when we allow God to change us, he doesn’t change us in a bad way, to be more sinful. No.
He changes us to be more like Him, and He causes us to grow closer to Him, to know His heart more.
And if we know His heart more, and if we’re closer to Him, then when we hear the false teachings, we will have discernment.
We’ll have discernment because number one: we’ll know the character of God more, which will make it easier to see if whatever is being said aligns with that.
and number two: we will be closer to and more accustomed to hearing the One who gives us that discernment.
Praise the Lord, right?!
It’s just incredible how we have access to ALL of this through His Word, and I pray that this blog post has helped you to understand some of it! I know it’s a lot to process, but…
before you go, I have one last thing I want to leave you with to think about:
2 Peter 3:17-18, “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
Have a blessed night and rest of your week! ☺️