Day 221

Diligence before the Lord’s return

Key Verses: 1, 3, 8, 10, 11, 16,

Even the best of us need to be reminded of the truth. It too easily slips away. Our natural tendency is to think negatively when things get tough. We must make ourselves think positively. That is when we need someone to come and help us think wholesome thoughts. Even in election season we can think unwholesome thoughts.

Depression often starts with negative circumstances. And then we get stuck on the negative thinking cycle, and it can be very difficult to get off that downward spiral.

Or thinking that involves sinful thoughts. It can be very difficult to change what we are thinking. We often need an outside influence to change what we are thinking. Peter wrote both of these letters to try to get them to change their thinking. We need to remember the reality of Jesus’ promises. We need to know the God who parted the Red Sea. We might need Him to part some large things in our life!

We certainly live in an era of scoffers. Christians have become the butt of every kind of derisive remark. If the same things were said about any other group, there would be a public outcry. But there is silence when Christians are mocked. From the university classroom to the public airwaves what we believe is dismissed. The world says we are simpletons, fools, weak minded, and even stupid. But they forget that most of the great leaps in science and all the institutions of higher learning came because of Christians. The slaves were freed and women elevated because of the work of Christians. The poor are helped today by Christian aid agencies. How many atheist soup kitchens do you see?

It could be easy in the face of this opposition to get discouraged. Peter encourages us by letting us in on God’s timetable. God is not stuck in our time. He operates outside of years. A thousand years in ancient time was like forever. He is not setting up a time-converter for us. He is just saying that God is not slow, just in a different time frame.

And He will return so we need to live in a way that honors Him. Since we are aware of His coming, we will be ready. It won’t take us by surprise because we know it is coming. Like when my children are driving in for the holidays. I know they will arrive after dark, so when the doorbell rings, I know it is them. I don’t know the exact moment they will ring the bell, but when it does ring, I know who it is.

And because of this, we need to live right.