A Thought for Wednesday 5/29/13

“Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’ … but beloved, do not forget this one thing; that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:-4, 8-9

I would suppose “scoffers” have been around since the beginning, and certainly there were “scoffers” who did not believe in the return of the Lord especially after He failed to show after that first generation of apostles.  Besides, who can say when the “last days” are?  Many believe we are seeing such signs pointing to The End as we think we understand it, but I rather think we are only more aware because of the world-wide media and instant access to news and information. Just reading biblical accounts, we can easily see profound evil has been around for a very long time.

Notice Peter’s interesting choice of words, however.  Our Lord is “longsuffering”; that is, very patient in putting up with us – “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance”.  If Peter can be taken at his word and our Lord is truly “not willing” that any should perish in those “last days”, then there is a remarkable call upon the Church as we navigate these “days”; whether they be “current” or “last”.  If our Lord is “not willing” that any should perish and the Church has been called forth to proclaim the Good News of Messiah, then it must also be that our Lord is “not willing” that the Church be so inwardly focused and simply wait for people to show up!  Our Lord called forth the Church for His purposes, not our own.  So the Church’s conversation must never be how we can improve “our” church and/or make it more attractive; rather our conversation must necessarily be about how we can share the Gospel, how we can serve our communities! 

The “last days” will come soon enough if they haven’t already.  Pity the church that sits and waits.

Blessings,

Michael