Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you-1st Timothy 4:15-16 ESV

Out of all the apostles, the Apostle Peter is probably my favorite. And not just because his blunders and character flaws give me hope for my sometimes-stupid, clueless, big-mouthed self. It’s just one of the reasons.

I also admire the way his brain appears to have worked. It seems to me that he was adept at grasping the bigger picture of life and faith. His writings indicate that he understood how apparently unconnected things are often very much connected to each other. Peter’s writings vacillate between big, beautiful pictures of our future with Jesus and simple lists of instructions that give us a roadmap detailing how we get to that big, beautiful place in the future.

Truth-be-told. I am very fond of lists. One of my favorite lists in the Bible is found in Second Peter 1:3-11.  These verses are basically just a log of traits and behaviors that if followed lead believers in Jesus to do exactly what needs to be done to live a life that takes us to the finish line of faith and a joyful welcome into the Kingdom of God (1st Samuel 26:23, Matthew 25:21, Luke 19:17, Hebrews 11:6).

It’s not the only list in Peter’s writings. 1st Peter 2:1-3 is another lesser-known list.  Unlike 2nd Peter 1:3-11 it gives us a list of negative traits that must be dealt with in order to “grow into our salvation” and become the people Jesus calls us to be.  The passage begins with a “therefore”, so it is critical we understand what the therefore is there for. 1st Peter 1:24-25 basically just tells us life is short (James 4:14). Peter likens human beings to the grass and wildflowers that spring up and are gone in a season. His assessment isn’t intended to be dark or gloomy: just real. Peter is saying that life is short, we neglect our character and spiritual growth to our own detriment.

One key to growth is freeing ourselves from attitudes and behaviors every fallen human is prone to. Interestingly, all the attitudes and behaviors Peter mentions are secret attitudes or heart issues we can easily keep on the down-low from others. Yet these attitudes impact everything we do, especially how we treat others.  The first on the Apostle’s naughty list is malice. In Greek the word malice isn’t just disliking someone. Malice is a secret desire to be sneakily malevolent towards someone or to see evil done to an individual. Malice is often manifested in a desire to harm the reputation of others or to see someone get what “they deserve” (Leviticus 19:18, Romans 12:19). When malice is running the show, an individual will deliberately hurt the reputation of others and go out of their way to cause dissension (Proverbs 10:12, Romans 13:13).

Guile is malice’s scheming partner in crime. Guile is sneakiness, craftiness and deceit that intends to cause others harm. Guile loves to manipulate and mastermind the downfall of others all the while pretending to be friends with the person they hurt with their words (Proverbs 16:28). Malicious people love to twist truth in order to create conflict where none exists.

The next on attitude of the heart on Pastor Peter’s naughty list is hypocrisy. Hypocrites pretend to be better than they really are, they are experts in phoniness and professional fakes. Ananias and his wife Sapphira are perfect examples of hypocrisy (Acts 5). They didn’t do anything evil to anyone. They simply faked being more generous and devout than they really were.  God was not a fan.

Envy and slander finish out the list. Envy, jealousy or covetousness are three words that all mean the same thing (basically). Jealous people want something someone else has (Exodus 20:17, James 4:2). An individual can be jealous of and covet someone else’s looks, bank account, home, spouse, job, accomplishments, children and life.  The principal problem with envy is that if it is not dealt with it twists a person into an ugly version of themselves. Jealousy, envy and coveting are gateway sins that always leads to other bigger sins (Genesis 4:1-10, James 3:16). Slander can be an out-and-out lie but oftentimes it is simply a subtle dig at another person’s character.  Slander implies unkind things about people and lets the hearer fill in the blanks.

The problem with giving definitions of the words on Peter’s list is that it becomes easy for a nice Christian person (such as myself) to dismiss the whole list out of hand. I am not the worst version of any of those words and my guess is you aren’t either. However, Peter isn’t cautioning Christians against becoming the worst version of these words. He is commanding us to completely rid ourselves of all of those attitudes and behaviors. Even a smidge of these attitudes and behaviors will be the eventual ruin of even the nicest Christian. All these sins corrupt our hearts, dampen our enthusiasm for spiritual growth and inevitably lead to more sin (Proverbs 4:23).

Thankfully, Peter doesn’t just tell us the problem.

He also gives some solutions. Getting free of these sins becomes easier when we train ourselves to crave biblical knowledge and are intentional about creating Christian community and accepting accountability. Choosing the path of growth dampens the desire we have for sinful attitudes and gives us a deeper love for Jesus (1st Peter 2:2).