S51P5- Notes on godliness: waiting with purpose

2 Pet. 3:11-13

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.

His freshman year, tryouts did not go as he planned.  Although he thought he performed well, the coach told him that he needed a little more maturity before he could join the team.  So, he went about his business for the next year and tried out again when he was a sophomore.  Again, the coach gave him the same advice.  This would happen each of his high school years until he realized that he would never get the chance to be on the team.  His error was that he simply waited for maturity to set in.  He thought that if he waited long enough that would be sufficient for his attitude and his mind to change.  What he failed to realize is that he would have to take a hand in that transformation.  He would have to cause himself to grow into maturity.

A great folly of ours as Christians is that we may think our job is simply to wait for Jesus Christ to return.  We fail to understand messages like today’s scripture that tell us to hasten the coming of the Lord.  This means that we do not simply stand around with our eyes to the sky and wait.  We actually do something to make his return come about sooner. Scripture tells us that certain things must be fulfilled before Jesus Christ comes back, and one of them is the spreading of the good news throughout the entire world.  That is one area in which we easily can hasten the coming of the Lord.  Whether through paper publications, electronic means or face-to-face contact, we can play a part in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the world and hastening his return.

I am not called to sit here like a bump on a log until my Savior calls me home.  I am called to play an active role in anticipating and welcoming his return.  This means that I have got to actually do something to help bring that about.  If we peruse scripture, we will see that there are many things that we can do to hasten the coming of our Lord.  The question is whether we have the wisdom to recognize that and the desire to follow through.  Perhaps a good regular prayer would be for us to ask God what it is that we can do today so that we are waiting on him in the proper way.  Father, give us the wisdom and the motivation to fulfill our role in ushering in the return of your Son with anticipation and faithfulness.