11-29-10 Monday, 7:22 am Springfield, 49 degrees, windy
One day following another, day by day, the calendar advances, and my life unfolds. Yesterday was a very good day at Wesley as we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent and I preached part one of my series on angels. Audrey fixed a wonderful lunch and we had great conversations with family and quests from Hayes, Kansas. In the afternoon I rested briefly, then back to church for meetings and ministry. Tomorrow I have my annual clergy evaluation at the district office, for which I need to prepare this morning.
II Pet 3:1-18
The apostle, in writing this second letter, intends to “stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.” He wants his readers to pay attention to what the prophets have said, and to live, looking forward to the return of Christ. He warns that some will get weary of waiting, and give up on the hoped for return. But, he states that “a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.”
In verse 11 he makes the application, which echoes the first of my three applications yesterday – “since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.” As I study about angels, which includes visions of heaven, I discover that the result in people’s lives of a vision of heaven or the end of time is usually a transformation in the way they live this life – with greater intensity and zeal for serving God and building God’s kingdom.
The apostle Peter certainly lived his life for eternity, enduring fierce opposition and ultimately execution for his testimony about his risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Guide me Lord as I serve you in this generation, as I journey in the wilderness, preparing for the promised land. May my life today be holy and godly as I rest on this “seventh day” of my weekly schedule.
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