We all like to look forward to things. Right now in my country the majority are either on holiday or looking forward to one very soon. We look forward to many things and when we do we focus our attention, we make decisions that show where our attention is, our behaviour is a mirror of the fact that we believe an event is happening in our near future which will be great!
‘So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this …. ‘ (2 Peter 3 v 14)
So then … or therefore … or because of what has just been said …. this is how we live.
Peter has been reminding the Church that this world is passing, the day of the Lord is coming and all that we have known will be renewed in the new heaven and new earth.
Here is a question for us all: are you ‘looking forward to this’? Peter knew the Church was.
Would he say that of this present generation?
Am I looking forward to this?
Attend a Christian funeral and it is obvious that we do not mourn as the world mourns for we know we will see our loved ones again. The world has no hope nor belief of that.
Attend a worship service in a Church and it is obvious there is a longing to see Jesus again, a confidence that we will.
Attend a gathering of the Suffering Church and sit and listen to the stories of the persecuted and it becomes obvious that what sustains them is that life will get better, their struggle will end, for the dawn will soon rise.
But are there any other indicators in the demonstration of our lives that we are looking forward to the return of Christ and the culmination of all things leading to a new heaven and new earth ?
In where we invest our time and our money?
In the generosity and kindness of our lives?
In how we react to those who hurt us?
In the nature of our ambitions?
In how often we tell people the good news of Jesus?
Let it be said of this generation of the Church that we are looking forward to the Second Coming of Jesus.
Let the way we behave mirror what we believe.
Missions Paul 