… and speed its [the day of God] coming.
Summary: Remembering what it was like to be a little kid can help us understand what Peter is telling us about the day of God.
How do you “speed” the coming of a day? Looking into the Greek root of the word Peter used in his letter, he means to “hasten” the day. Another phrase used by Strong’s Concordance is to “desire earnestly” that the day will arrive. When I was a small boy, I could relate to this concept better than I can today.
As a little kid, there were several days that I “couldn’t wait for.” The BIG ONE was Christmas. Waiting for Christmas was torture! Remember Psalm 90: 4?
“A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.”
To God, a thousand years is like the blink of an eye, but it can also be an excruciatingly long time. While God can see both, I could only see one; the excruciatingly long time.
While waiting for Christmas, every day was like a thousand years! Every morning I wanted it to be Christmas morning. During the day the thought, “I wish it were Christmas!” would rattle through my head constantly.
As the days went by, the pressure on my WANT-O-METER only increased. Only two days until Christmas? I CAN’T WAIT!
Of course, somehow I did wait. Somehow, I survived until Christmas came. Finally, Christmas was here and I could revel in the joy of packages to unwrap.
When Peter tells us we “ought to… look forward to the day of God and speed its coming,” he is telling us we ought to be excited about the Lord’s return.
How would that change anything? What would be different?
For me, there would be changes. Peter tells us we “ought to live holy and godly lives” while we wait for the Lord’s return. I could do better on that score.
When my kids were little, we would occasionally go on family vacations. These were always a big deal because we did not do them very often. I was busy with work in those days, but the real problem was that I do not have any sense of time. It is hard for me to focus on things that will happen tomorrow because I have enough on my plate to take care of today.
My youngest son is more like my wife when it comes to planning. My wife starts planning for Christmas in mid-summer. (I am not joking!!) My son has that same ability to plan. When our planned vacation arrived, my wife was ready, my son was ready, but I still had a lot of things to do.
More than once, my son would be patiently waiting in the car, dressed, packed, and ready to go hours before I was ready. I am madly running around collecting camping gear, packing, gathering last-minute supplies, and there is my son … ready to go.
I sometimes joke that I will be late for my own funeral. (I might actually write that into the funeral instructions if I ever get around to doing that.) My point here is that Peter is not asking us to change who we are. Some of us are planners and others are not. Regardless of our nature, we all know that there are certain dates we have to plan for. The biggest, most important day of all is the day of God.
Whether or not we want that day to come depends on our relationship with the Lord. A quick glance at the WANT-O-METER tells us where we are. If it is not pegged on “I can’t wait!” then we probably need to have a chat with our Lord about growing our faith.
Application: Check your WANT-O-METER and see how your faith is doing today.
Food for Thought: What can we do to grow our faith stronger?
Stop believing in Santa would be a good start,..
When I was young I was told to be a good boy and you will get what you want for Christmas,..I was good and what I wanted never ever came,..
Santa is nothing but a liar and thief,.. my faith seems to grow stronger whenever I share that with someone because I always let them know that I would much rather believe in Jesus Christ than Santa Claus,..
John,
I can’t argue with that. Anything that focuses our faith more directly on Jesus is a good thing.
I think there are four basic things a believer can do to grow their faith stronger:
Read God’s Word – Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Put the Word into practice – Matthew 7:24-25 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
Keep in the company of other believers – Proverbs 13:20 “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.”
Trust God – 2 Corinthians 1:9 “Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”
Chris,
Nice summary! I am very thankful for the body of believers that God has led me to. That is key to growing our trust in God, understanding the Word, and applying our faith.
Just to add two more to Chris’s good list of disciplines – I would add prayer. Connecting with God and even asking Him for a greater hunger and thirst for Him. If I don’t have it to the level I should or need to, I can ask for His help. Another is worship – which is connected to prayer. In worship I ascribe or pronounce the worthiness of God. He does not need that reminder, but I certainly do.
Excellent points, Rich!
Prayer and worship are our direct link to our God.
01-07-2022, 2 Peter 3:12b, What can we do to grow our faith stronger?
I was in the Marine Corps at 17. The only running I had done was occasionally when a Police officer was chasing me. A big part of the 3 month MC basic training was physical. Part of our every morning routine was going for a run, which began short 1/4 mile, and quickly increased to 3 miles each morning. I still remember the Drill Instructor commanding us to get in step. I thought “these people are crazy” but in a very short time the pitter-patter of 60 young men sounded like one giant foot pair of feet as we ran. This continued when I was assigned to Fleet with the addition of a 12 mile run each Thursday. We were trained to disregard and push past our desires to quit.
When we accepted Christ in faith, we were set apart to God, we were positionally sanctified (made holy). Our spiritual strength came as we admitted our weakness and chose to accept His power over our own.
Ephesians 2:8–9,
We must learn to live in the same submission we displayed as we accepted Christ. On our knees before God, daily dieing to self and allowing Christ to grow in our hearts. Daily, prayerfully study scripture and ask God to make His word alive as we apply it to our lives. We will experience spiritual growth, (progressive sanctification) as our faith pushes past the desires of our flesh.
Romans 6
Semper Fi!
Always faithful.
Perhaps another way of saying the same thing is “Never indulge in unfaithfulness.”