“Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have” (2 Peter 1:12).
Vince Lombardi was an American Football coach who led his teams to seven championships over the course of his head coaching career. Lombardi’s first step in installing a new offensive play was to ensure that his players thoroughly understood the underlying concept behind it. He meticulously diagrammed each play on a chalkboard to provide his team with a visual representation of his objective. He then detailed each player’s responsibility and articulated what would happen if the player failed to execute his assignment.
Lombardi then moved his players to the practice field. Once his players mastered the fundamentals of a play in practice, they often heard the legendary coach bark out the following command: “Run it again.” Each player then lined up to run the play again. They would continue to do so until they executed the play so well, it was virtually unstoppable.
In one sense, the Apostle Peter will run “the same play again” with his readers beginning here in 2 Peter 1:12. For instance, we will encounter the following affirmations over the course of the next few verses…
- “I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things” (verse twelve).
- “Yes, I think it is right …to stir you up by reminding you” (verse thirteen).
- “…I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things…” (verse fifteen).
Peter felt a strong sense of responsibility concerning the importance of these things. In fact, Peter feared he might be guilty of negligence if he failed to remind his readers of them. This brings us to another point regarding Vince Lombardi’s coaching philosophy. You see, Coach Lombardi’s play designs held little value as long as they remained on a chalkboard. To fulfill their purpose, those plays had to be practiced on the field and executed successfully against a real opponent in game action.
In a similar manner, this portion of Scripture reminds us of the need to act upon the Biblical truths we learn. Paul the Apostle echoed a similar theme in two of his New Testament epistles…
“…I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder” (Romans 15:15 NLT).
“It’s no trouble for me to repeat the same things to you because they will help keep you on track” (Philippians 3:1 CEB).
Thus, we should seek to become well acquainted with the Biblical Scriptures and act upon them in the contest of life.
Image Credit: LearningLark, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
