The Lord's Patience

Scripture: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ... So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 2 Peter 3:9,14-17

Observation: Peter is saying something here that I believe many people - myself included - have misinterpreted.

Verse 9 states that the Lord is being patient in his return because he wishes that none should perish but come to repentance. Most interpret this to mean that the end times are waiting until the most possible non-believers have been reached ... that God does not want non-believers to perish and wants them to accept Jesus. However ... Peter says that the Lord is being patient "with you" ...

Verse 14-17 fine-tunes this. Speaking to believers, he tells them to be spotless, blameless, and at peace with God, as the Lord's patience means salvation. He refers to Paul's teachings and the fact that many believers have failed to understand and observe that teaching as well as the Scriptures, calling them "ignorant and unstable". He says such believers are doing so "to their own destruction" and warns them not to also do so and "fall from your secure position."

In other words, the Lord is NOT being patient with NON-believers, but rather ... he is being patient with BELIEVERS and waiting for us to get it right so that we can receive salvation.

Application: Without revisiting the faith vs. works conversation, what am I an and the Church getting "wrong" right now that requires Jesus to withhold his second coming until we address our shortcomings? There are two possible answers to this.

One is simply continued sinful practices. Many Christians struggle with true repentance from certain sins, and this impacts their relationship with God. I'm not pointing fingers - I'm part of that "many". We need to address this in our lives, truly repent from sin, and begin adopting a completely different lifestyle that is better aligned to Jesus' teaching.

The second answer is that the Church is too aligned to worldly culture. Contrary to some thoughts, this isn't new. The fact that Church drove worldly culture at one time doesn't change the fact that it was too closely aligned to that culture (and it doesn't help that the culture the Church created often wasn't in line with God). This has become more obvious in recent years, and the Church is now starting to go through a winnowing process that may actually be good, as believers who are unstable and distorting scripture are starting to do so obviously and boldly, and the true Church is effectively reorganizing in alignment with this change.

I can do two things, then, with these answers. First, I can ensure that I am in a local church that is not distorting scripture and thus not be "carried away by the error of the lawless". Second, I can repent and correct my behavior. This is hard, as it will mean setting myself up as someone who is "different" from others. However, I am already in that position anyway ... it's time to take that all the way, repent in my mind, clean up my thought life and behaviors entirely, and place my feet upon Jesus' path daily.

Prayer: Lord, I do not seek forgiveness of my sins - I seek a full change in my heart to entirely repent of those sins, and never to return to them. I despise my bad behavior, and I want the thoughts of it completely removed from my way of thinking. I am too weak to do this alone - I need your power and strength working in my, through the Holy Spirit, to transform me entirely. Please make me a Godly man, walking in your way daily and at all times. Amen.