Choose Wisely

DEVOTION 2 PETER CHOOSE WISELY 2 Peter 2:4-10 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. 10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. NIV This simply cannot be broken up in parts for it speaks of but one thing and one thing only. There is a difference between how God deals with the believer and the non-believer. One will be rescued and one will be destroyed. It is also clear that the choice is up to each one as to whether they decide to follow after God or follow after the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise the authority of God. We all can either be spared like Noah, which the Ark is a perfect picture of the cross or like lot, which Sodom and Gomorrah are a great picture of Hell or we could be a part of the those who died in the flood or the fire sent be God to show us the result of refusing his authority in our lives. Does that mean that us believers never fall to the temptations of the sinful nature? We would all have to say not really, we still fail to be absolutely perfect and without any sin at all, but we still respect the authority of God and feel the remorse and seek forgiveness for our failures. The ungodly simply do not care about God and his authority; they pursue at full speed all the pleasures of their sinful nature. Does that mean they are bad people, not at all, some are nice loving, caring, giving people, doing good things for their families and friends and even giving to society having a certain moral center of their own. But they do not accept God, and his standards, his authority, his requirements and provisions for salvation. There is no middle ground here, no fence riding, either one is in the camp of God or in the camp of the enemy of God. Yes it is possible for a person to stand on a state line with one foot in Ohio and one in Indiana, but that is in the physical realm, where as in the spiritual realm, it is all in one or the other. The sad thing is, unlike the ark which had limited space, the cross has unlimited space, all can enter, all can be saved, not one has to be held in a gloomy dungeon until the day of judgment, then cast into the lake of burning sulfur and perish as those in Sodom and Gomorrah did. There is a choice here, choose wisely.