Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 21

" Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming" 2 Peter 3:12

           How do you speed the day of the Lord's coming when God already knows when it is? Here is the only logical answer. Have you ever had a day at work that seemed to last forever? Chances are it was a boring day where nothing was happening. I recently went to an NCAA football game and got there 75 minutes early - at least that's what the clock ticking down to game-time said. It seemed to last forever. My wife was ready to leave by the time the game started. Once the game started, the clock seemed to speed up. What happened? Busyness and activity seem to make time go faster. How can we speed the day of the Lord's return - by being about His business. Don't be a lazy Christian but go out and labor in His strength for the kingdom. It will make the time go quicker.

         That's the logical answer. Here's the illogical answer which could be right because our finite minds can't comprehend much. For example, Q. why pray when God already knows what He's going to do? A. Because prayer changes things. Huh? I thought God doesn't change his mind? Q. Why witness when God already knows who is going to be saved? A. Because God uses evangelism to save people. But if I didn't witness they'd still get saved? So here is the illogical answer. Matthew 24 says Christ will return when all the world has heard therefore let's reach all the unreached people groups and bring Jesus back. Similarly, Romans 11 talks about the fullness of the Gentiles being reached before God brings about revival of the Jews. Therefore, let's go get that last Gentile saved.

         The illogical part of this is that a finite date set by the Lord could be expedited. Yet, David, when being judged for a census, chose 3 days of being judged by the Lord because the Lord is merciful and sure enough, those 3 days were shortened because He relented at Aruanah's threshing floor. Dates and times are fixed, God doesn't change His mind, yet we see examples of both. Paul told the men on the ship that no one would be lost yet as men tried to escape in a lifeboat, he told them if they left, they would die. How could both be true?

          Truly, God's ways are higher than ours. Let's first of all get excited about the Lord coming back and secondly, let's get busy and hurry Him up. After all, it has been 2000 years already!