“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. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8-9
In this final chapter of Peter’s book, he talks about people in the last days joking about the coming of Jesus. He warns that in the last days many will ask where Jesus is and why He has not yet come.
Now you are reminded to remember that God is a patient God. In reality God is outside of time because He always was and always will be. Time means very little to Him. In this way you are told that with God a thousand days are like a day and vice versa.
As a finite human being, time means a lot. Sixty years are a long time when the average lifespan is only about 80 years. Today people want everything faster and faster. When you boot up a computer and it takes 2 minutes to boot up, you get upset because your friend has one that boots up in 1 minute. Neither time is really that much time in light of the 525,600 minutes in one year, but at the moment it is a long time.
God is patient because He does not want anyone to perish. Jesus came to the earth to save every person. How valuable is one person’s soul? Jesus died for that one person so it must have a very high value. If this is correct, why not be patient to save that soul?
All around you today there will be people trying to tell you that Jesus will never come back if He has not done so by now; that Jesus failed in His promise because He has not come back yet. Look at the whole Bible and see all of the promises of God. See how many of them have already been fulfilled. Keep this in mind when you start to question about Jesus ever returning again. Even more so, keep it in mind, when you see all the evil going on around you and it looks like God has lost the battle.
As you wait for the return of Jesus seek opportunities to tell someone else about Him. Seek to bring more people to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Use this time to build His kingdom, just as He is doing. Do not be discouraged. Do not lose faith. Just as the one minute really means nothing in a year, neither does a thousand years in an eternity.
I pray that today that God will give you His patience; that God will open doors for you to be His witness; that God will draw many more people to Him through you; and that you will not lose faith in His promise to return.
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