“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”
~ 2 Peter 3:10
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you follow through on or do you ignore doing something that you have been told that you are to do? How often do you follow through the very first time in doing something that you have been told that you are to do? How often after you have not followed through doing something that you have been told that you are to do have you really wished that you had done the very first time something that you had been told that you are do? You are being constantly bombarded to follow through on doing things that you are being told that you are to do. A coach may be telling you how you are to play the position that he wants you to play. A teacher may be telling you that you are not to make any noise in his or her classroom. Your dad and/or ma may be telling you that you are to keep your bedroom clean. If you do not do what a coach is telling you what you are to do to play the position that he wants you to play, the coach will probably not let you continue to play. If you do not do what a teacher is telling you what you are to do about not making any noise in his or her classroom, the teacher will probably lower your deportment grade. If you do not do what your dad and/or ma is telling you what you are to do to keep your bedroom clean, your dad and/or ma will probably take away privileges from you. Not doing something that you have been told that you are to do or doing something that you have been told that you are not to do has a consequence. The first time that your grandpaa remembers having to get on a passenger train took place in Pailón, Bolivia. Your grandpaa had spent about three or four days in Pailón with a South America Mission summer team that he and your grandmaa were leading that would spend about seven and a half weeks in Bolivia. Your grandpaa had been told that the passenger train would barely come to a stop at the train station at Pailón and that he, your grandmaa, dad, Aunt Lynn and every guy and gal who was on and who was traveling with the summer team had to be ready to get into the passenger train as it slowed down at the Pailón train station. Your grandmaa and grandpaa would take your dad and Aunt Lynn with them to the places where they took the various summer teams that they led. The passenger train – after a long wait, finally arrived in Pailón. Even though your grandpaa had been told that the passenger train would barely come to a stop and that he was to make sure that every guy and gal who was on and had gone with the summer team to Pailón was ready with their things right next to the railroad tracks, your grandpaa really had not understood what it really meant “have to be ready’ until that day in Pailón when for a few seconds a screaming group of over twenty guys, gals and kids desperately tried to get into – with all the stuff that they had taken to Pailón with them, the slow moving passenger train that was rapidly picking up speed. Your grandpaa thought that he would have to jump off the passenger train and find another way to get back to Santa Cruz – which was where the summer team was staying, as it looked like not everyone was going to get into the passenger train with all of his or her stuff. Ask your dad what he remembers of what it was like trying to get on that slow moving passenger train in Pailón. Ask your dad if he remembers what got left behind in Pailón. Ask your dad what it was like to wait for a train to arrive and then having only seconds to get into a train car or a boxcar.
Peter used a circular letter to tell dispersed Christ-follower guys, gals and kids what they are always to do. 2 Peter 3 has Peter telling the scattered Christ-follower guys, gals and kids that they are always to be ready for the eminent return of the Lord or Jesus to planet Earth. Verse 10 has Peter clearly saying why Christ-follower guys, gals and kids are to be always prepared for the moment when the Lord or Jesus will suddenly reappear again, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” When your grandpaa was a kid and after he heard a preacher preach one Sunday about planet Earth being destroyed by fire, your grandpaa has always envisioned a moment when a flash of fire will consume planet Earth. Your grandpaa does not know – nor does any other guy or gal, what that moment will be like when the Lord or Jesus returns to planet Earth; your grandpaa is convinced though that it will be a very blessed moment for all Christ-follower guys, gals and kids and that it will be a shame filled moment for the guys, gals and kids who God – as God the Spirit, did not lead to the grace/faith door to become Christ-followers.
Peter wrote his second letter about 30 years after he watched his mentor – Jesus, being whisked away by God into heaven. Peter – in his second letter, tells the guys, gals and kids who became Christ-followers when they accepted a Jesus-centered belief paradigm, that by faithfully obeying the words that were written by Old Testament prophets and the words that Jesus spoke to His apostles that they would be wholesome thinkers. Peter had become very concerned that more and more guys, gals and kids were listening to guys who were saying that the Lord or Jesus was not going to return again to planet Earth. Peter tells the readers of his second Peter Letter that God – as God the Father, will always have days in a different time grid than what they do. Are you prepared for the return of the Lord or Jesus to planet Earth? How are you prepared?
2 Peter 3 (753)