2 Peter 3 - Thursday 17th October
Today’s reading is 2 Peter 3
Tom writes:
One thing we have not yet pulled out in 2 Peter is the fact that living in exile is a choice. You choose to live as an exile rather than assimilate to your host culture. It’s like Brits living in the Costa Del Sol nipping off to the English Pub for fish and chips every day. Except with Christians it is a Christ-like character and values and a certain type of behaviour that you make your daily bread. And making it your daily bread is a must. Because living as an exile is a choice. It is a choice that attracts stares, derision, and even some persecution. Why - Peter asks - should we continue to make this choice? Why don’t we just adapt to our environment and live like the rest of them do? Because “The day of the LORD will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar.” Exile will end. Peter really stresses this point with a huge amount of figurative language. A thief, a fire, a deluge and a fire (again). All of these point not to the smashing of this good earth but rather to an irreversible universal transformation by God. Think of Noah and the flood, except maybe a bit hotter. The fire language in particular shows God’s action will be purifying and refining; destroying things that do not conform to his desires and bringing to purity those that do.
To continue the metaphor Peter is saying that one day Britain will invade Spain and the fish and chip boozers will be identified and celebrated, while all those tapas bars and olive shops will be shut down. So you should get yourself down the pub. Exile will end and all you have lived for and hoped for, all you have believed in and trusted in, all those promises in the scriptures, all those instructions in the scriptures - every single one of them will be shown to have been utterly brilliant, resonating with truth. The Word of the One - even the tricky letters of Paul - will be proved devastatingly accurate in the end. And so do not give up living like an exile, even if at moments you feel like you have failed. Peter - good old Pete - knew what it was to fail. He had a pastor’s heart born out of his betrayal of Jesus and Jesus’ restoration of him. And out of this heart he calls us friends. He knows that the wait in exile seems long and our flesh is weak and so he calls us fellow exiles his friends. As friends of his and friends of one another we help one another to persevere. We help each other continue to trust the book even while living in a culture that doesn’t trust the book. And so together, as friends, we grow in the grace of our greatest friend; not Peter, but Jesus Christ, Jesus the author of the book; Jesus the Coming King.
Question for reflection
What was the main thing God highlighted to you in this letter of 2 Peter?
