Steadfast Day 17: 2 Peter 3:14-16

Read 2 Peter 3:14-16.

Ponder

Often these days, I find myself thinking, “I want to go home.” 

What I’ve come to realize about that thought is that it often crosses my mind—and comes out of my mouth—when I experience the brokenness of the world. 

When I recall a past sin or an experience where I felt deep shame or embarrassment. 

When I hear about the death and destruction of war or a catastrophic natural disaster. 

When the something within me that was made for eternity bumps up against the destructiveness of sin, and I see the way it has destroyed so much—relationships, nature, beauty. The only world I’ve ever known is deeply marred by sin, and there is something within me that knows there’s something more. 

I’ve realized that the “home” I’m longing for isn’t always my house or my parents’ home—it’s heaven. It’s the eternal home I was made for that isn’t marred by sin and broken relationships or characterized by shame and destruction. 

As Peter began to close out his letter, I think that’s a little of what he wanted his readers to understand. As people who were living amid persecution and battling false teachers who said it was fruitless to value holy living and godliness when Jesus obviously wasn’t coming back, Peter wanted to raise his readers' eyes from the present and help them to see the bigger picture. Because while God was in the details of their daily lives, the story he’d been unfolding from the first act of creation was one that brought his people into a full, unfettered relationship with him. The goal wasn’t passing pleasure or earthly success, but an eternal home with the Father, where righteousness dwells. 

So, as Peter closed his letter, he tried to shift his readers’ perspective. “Your life isn’t just about here and now,” he seemed to be saying, “but you can live here and now in a way that leaves an eternal impact.” 

So, how do we do that? How do we refocus our lives today, which are constrained by earthly striving, passions and desires, to look forward to and anticipate our eternal home? 

• Pursue holiness. Live in obedience to God (v. 14). 

• Understand God’s character and live accordingly. God delays Christ’s return because he wants to give the ungodly time to repent. Don’t forsake the truth for false teaching and worldly values that make promises they can’t deliver (v. 15). 

• Read and know Scripture. People were trying to twist Paul’s writings to justify their ungodliness, just like the false teachers he’d previously warned his readers about. If we spend time in God’s word with a heart that seeks to understand and obey, we will be more capable of recognizing false teaching because we are so familiar with the truth. 

• Live with your eyes focused on eternity. The false teachers and those who twisted Paul’s words sought to make God’s word fit the way they wanted to live, but Peter called his readers to a higher perspective. The fun and enjoyment that worldly desires offer are fleeting, but God offers eternal hope and security that will never fade. 

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Journal

• Where’s your focus today, on fleeting pleasures or eternal hope? Explain.

• If your focus was on eternal, lasting things, how would your day look different? How would you spend your time? What things would you stop doing? What things might you start doing? 

• How do you experience a longing for home with the Father or a desire to be in a place where righteousness rather than sin dwells? 

• We have such a beautiful promise of eternal life with God, where the destructiveness of sin, sickness, pain and death will be no more. Why do you think it’s so hard for us to keep that in focus as we live our daily lives?