Walking and Talking

 

DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER OF PETER

WALKING AND TALKING

2 Peter 3:8-10

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.  

NIV

Do not forget, that is, always keep this one thing in your mind, always be aware, do not live as if it was not true, but that is a certain thing. Time as we understand it has no meaning to the Lord. He made time for us. He does not live in time or space. With the Lord, it is forever the present. We simply cannot fathom exactly how that works because we do live in time, we are linear with a beginning and an end. We age, but that was not God’s original plan. He told Adam that if he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil he would surely die. Had Adam freely eaten from the tree of life, he would have been an eternal being as God had designed him to be. Sin would have never entered the world of mankind and all our lives would have taken a very different path. There would have been no flood, there would have been no famines and Israel would never have been in slavery in Egypt and in need of a savior. There would have been no wars, no need for judges, kings, or a temple in Jerusalem. And most of all there would have been no need for Jesus to have to suffer as he did on that cross to take all our sins upon himself and freeing us from that penalty of sin. Yet, we still have to know that God already knew all that would happen before he even formed the foundation of the earth because he is not limited to time and he is always in the present. Thus all this has already happened in the sight of God. He knows everything that has ever happened and what all will ever happen because he has already seen it happen beforehand. This also means what we consider to be the end has already transpired and we are in eternity with him as eternal beings, just as he designed us to be. It is already done, it is a done deal, finished, just as Jesus said when he was on the cross. It is finished. However, there are still people who need to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and so God has not persisted in bringing time as we know it to an end. He is holding back from eliminating time because he is patient and desires that not a single one of His creation perish. So that frees us from all anxiety, all impatience, and all frustrations because we know our Lord and He is surely going to accomplish His plan in His way and in the time, which he created us for, He has determined. The end will come when it comes, and so in the meantime, we are to occupy. We are to be about doing that which we have been designed to do, living in His paradise, in His creation, tending His garden, that is His kingdom, and walking and talking with Him in the cool of the day. He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own. This certainly gives us the picture that our lives should not be about living for self, doing everything we can to gain as much as the world as we can. No, we are to occupy as though we are already living in the new creation, the kingdom of God, being about doing what He has called us to do, walking and talking with Him.