The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise,
a some count
slackness, but is
longsuffering toward
us, not willing
that any should
perish but that all should
come to repentance.
But the day of the
Lord will come as a
thief in the night,
in which the heavens
will pass away with a
great noise,
and the elements will
melt with
fervent heat; both
the earth and
the works that are in
it
will be burned up.
Therefore, since
all these things will
be dissolved,
what manner of
persons ought you to be
in holy conduct and
godliness.
2Peter 3:9–11
Here can be
said to be the heart of this blog: “.,.what manner of persons ought you to
be in holy conduct and godliness” (2Peter 3:11b). It this change we all need from the inside out, to align our
lives with God’s commandments, not adding or subtracting from those
commandments. The world will not
understand and may even bring upon you persecution and ridicule, even to kill
some as is being done in those Islamic lands where the government and religion
are one and follow the Koran that teaches killing of infidels, those who do not
believe in Allah and follow Mohammed.
This form of false teaching even affected the Christian Church when
those religious leaders, pope, monks, bishops and other allowed secularism
invade the Church. The killed, even men such as Servetus who did not teach what
the Church taught for he was anti–Trinitiarian, and anti–paedobaptism, etc, and
so he was condemned and put to death. What all allow in out lives that may seem
to be pious, and holy, but is far from what Jesus Christ taught us and the
apostles reaffirmed in their letters to the churches. God is patient for He is merciful but God is not to be mocked: “Do
not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also
reap” (Galatians 6:7). We mock God
when we place those objects that we use to venerate Him, so we say, and those
practices, i.e., same sex marriage, homosexuals allowed to be members of the
Church, and women as pastors, and of course those paedophils that are so prevalent
in the Roman Catholic Church and even to be found in Protestant churches. We
allow men to mock God by their ever consuming need for money, to teach a
new–age form of Christianity: how mocking can this be to God. Our God is longsuffering and He will not set
aside His promise. That promise is that
in His time, He will remove all those who are mocking Him, and they shall
perish. For those who are clamoring
about in revelry and debauchery with no thought of God, or their actions that
mock God, the day will come as a thief in the night and they will perish. God
promised to destroy this world, the earth and all the works that are in it,
those works that seem pious, and hold to a form or religion that is apostasy,
they will be dissolved. The question
again: “...what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and
godliness” (2Peter 3:11b).
Oh! The patience of God is so great: the mercy
of God so overwhelming and His graciousness to allow us to be born and to
believe upon and be the recipients of His promise to Abraham. Our God awaits that He might be gracious and
does not as the Deist would teach, sit aside while this world struggles. No He
awaits us to exercise our belief in Him in truth as He has presented the truth
to us in His word. God will embrace
those returning saints. Yes! We are elected to eternal life before the
foundation of the world, but we are not to just “wait” as a slug under a damp
stump. This waiting in the Bible is not one of doing nothing, it is a time in
which we are anticipating with great expectation all that God has promised and
we act upon our “waiting” time until His return. Think upon the graciousness of
God that He gives mercy to all upon the earth, rain, sunshine, food, life, and
gives to His children even more, eternal salvation. Think upon that fact. God
gave you eternal life. He will keep His
promise to destroy sin, this world along with all its sinful acts. God’s primary patience is primarily man, and
secondarily to all creatures, especially those who keep their use for why they
were created, to govern this earth rightly, and for us who are called, the
elected of God to keep all that God has revealed to us by means of His word. That
patience of God towards His people has its extension to all on this earth. This patience for God’s children spares the
unbeliever, that is, until the time appointed by God to end all this sinfulness,
to destroy sin and the author of sin Satan by throwing all sin into
Gehenna. It will be done: Hallelujah,
praise God. The question is asked once again: “..what manner of persons
ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness” (2Peter 3:11b).
And those who are Christ’s
Have crucified
the flesh
With its passions and desires.
If we live
in the Spirit,
Let us also walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:24–25
You have been called to liberty
Richard L. Crumb
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