Austin's Blog

In Peter’s second letter, he writes about the Second Coming of Christ in chapter 3. Scoffers had arisen in the church, claiming that Christ wasn’t returning—that it was all a farce, a pipe dream. Peter reminds Christians that the Lord does not account for time as we do: “One day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” He will fulfill His promises. He will make good on all He has said will happen when He returns. Sin, Satan, and sickness will be no more. Death will die. All things will be resurrected. Justice will be done. We will be rewarded for our work. We will be comforted for our sorrows and griefs. We will live with Him and His people forever.

In light of these realities, how then shall we live? What are we to do? Peter says in 3:11-14:

“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”

It seems we are to wait. But what’s interesting is that whatever waiting means, it does not imply passive resignation that paralyzes us from the work we are called to do.

George Matheson writes:

“We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet there is a patience that I believe to be harder—the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies great strength. But I know of something that implies a strength greater still. It is the power to work under stress, to continue under hardship, to have anguish in your spirit and still perform daily tasks. This is a Christlike thing. The hardest thing is that most of us are called to exercise patience, not in the sick bed, but in the street.”

For those walking through grief, it is easy to become crippled by inaction and indifference. Much of our lives now feel like waiting—waiting until they are over or until we are reunited with our beloved dead. Yet, the biblical idea of waiting includes action and resilience. We are to hasten, to labor for the Kingdom. We are to fight our sin and strive for personal holiness. We are to put our shoulders to the plow until the King says our work is done and we enter into the joy of our Master. There’s a lot stored up for us in Heaven but we can store up even more as we continue to serve Him and the plans He has for us.

“Fight for us, O God, that we not drift numb and blind and foolish into vain and empty excitements. Life is too short, too precious, too painful to waste on worldly bubbles that burst. Heaven is too great, hell is too horrible, eternity is too long that we should putter around on the porch of eternity.”