2 Peter 3:10-13
Both of Peter’s letters give us the whys of the Christian life. Peter does deal with significant amounts of theology, but he uses theology to show us why we should live in a different manner. This passage today is a perfect example.
Peter points out that the world will, one day, be destroyed in the ultimate and fatal global warming. This destruction will be catastrophic burning. The world we know will cease to exist in a moment. Not only the environment, but also the things that occupy so much of our attention in this life. Our cars, houses, computers, cell phones, IRA’s, banks, and other things we hold dear will disappear. I will miss my trombone, but I have a hunch that on the new earth, spoken of in verse 13, new trombones will be built.
If we truly believe that all of our “stuff” will be dissolved, Peter asks what kind of people we should be and what manner of lives we should live. What a somber reminder that so many of the things we hold as treasures are not really all that special and certainly will not last. The admonishment is to hold the things of this world loosely in light of eternity.
This understanding should drive us to amend our values. It should convince us to invest our time, thoughts, and effort in things that can be perceived as weird. And so we come full circle, back to where we started on Monday. We need to have an answer for the strange ideas that we follow! Look for coming of God which will change all things!
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