Advent Devotion for December 5, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 5

Thursday, December 5, 2019

2 Peter 3:11-18

¹¹Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, ¹²waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? ¹³But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; ¹⁵and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, ¹⁶speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. ¹⁷You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Reflection:

In today’s reading Peter picks up on the theme of the first week of Advent, showing both the Lord’s coming in judgment, as well as our responsibility to live accordingly. As we await Christ’s coming, Peter tells us that we should also be “hastening the coming day of the Lord”. One way that we hasten his coming day is simply to pray for his return. That’s what we’re doing when we pray “Thy Kingdom Come” in the Lord’s Prayer. Another way that we hasten the coming day of the Lord is also found in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The petition helps us understand that God’s Kingdom comes whenever and wherever God’s will is done. This means that we should be obedient to God in Christ. God has granted us the blessing of time and as we wait for the coming of our Lord, we can show our obedience by proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, and by living out his command to love one another as he loved us.