November 16 - 2 Peter 3: Well-Warned

When I was fourteen, my parents' financial advisor explained compound interest to me. He showed me how, just by being a faithful - and early - investor, I could accumulate vast amounts of wealth with the passage of time. What a concept!! It appealed to my desperate desire for financial security and my idol of control, and as soon as I had my first "real" job out of college, I started diligently saving money.

Can you tell what a planner I was?!? I was baffled that others didn't do the same thing since they had the same information as me. I wanted to be prepared for my future and ready for whatever was to come. As a non-believer, I thought the answer was money in the bank.

Oddly enough, as I read this chapter, that decades-old memory immediately came to mind. (Stick with me here.)

...in the last days, mockers are going to have a heyday. (3:3) 

They conveniently forget...God is poised, ready to speak his word again, ready to give the signal for the judgment and destruction of the desecrating skeptics. (3:5, 7) 

God isn't late...He's restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn't want anyone lost. He's giving everyone time and space to change. (3:9) 

Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? (3:11) 

So, my dear friends, since this is what you have to look forward to, do your very best to be found living at your best, in purity and peace. Interpret our Master's patient restraint for what it is: salvation. (3:14) 

Peter tells us what the future holds. He tells us that the Day of God's Judgment will come. (3:10) It's not if it will come, it's when. The concept is crystal clear. (Read the book of Revelation!) And Peter also tells us what we can be doing now in order to prepare for the future.

"In light of such a delay [of God's judgment], how should we then live? We must do two things, Peter said. We must do our best waiting and our best living. 

"We must not be impatient or faithless or get distracted and forget God. He doesn't forget his promises, so let us not forget them. And along with waiting well, live well. Live a holy life. In purity and peace. And that way, when Christ comes, we'll fit right in to a new heaven and earth that are landscaped with righteousness." Eugene Peterson, Conversations, pg. 1929

Again, as in the case of compound interest, I'm baffled by people who have this same information - believers, even - and yet choose to live only for today, but I know it's only the Spirit who can open their eyes to the truth.

I pray that God will give me the grace to heed Peter's words - to do my best waiting and my best living - as I wait for the Day of the Lord to appear.

But you, friends, are well-warned. Be on guard...Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. (3:17, 18)