Not willing that any should perish

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. - 2 Peter 3v8-9

One are of discussion that I rarely enter is that of Calvinism. I see a lot of fights and hear a lot of arguments where men fight and attack each other and question their faith and salvation. The reason I don’t enter the fray is that I really don’t have it all figured out. I believe in God’s sovereignty and I believe in man’s free will. I believe they work together somehow. I just haven’t figured it all out.

But if I believe the word of God I do know one thing. God is patient, He is not willing that anyone should perish, and He wants all men to come to repentance. Laying the above argument aside we can note something very special. Not ‘all men’ love Him. Some declare themselves His enemies. Some mock and revile Him. Some curse Him. Any yet God is not willing that any should perish. His desire is that all men come to repentance. He is patient and longsuffering as He sees His creation rebel against Him.

I think there is a hint here about how we should treat those around us. There is a whole world around us that has nothing to do with God. There is a wicked generation that lives anyway they want to. They do things that we disagree with and that we may even hate. If we are not careful we begin to hate them instead of their actions and their sin.

Then I look at God’s attitude towards mankind; longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, desiring all to come to repentance. What would happen to our words and behaviour if we saw men the same way? What would happen if our desire was to be longsuffering with all men and to desire their repentance? Might we begin to show them love instead of contempt? Might we become more efficient tools in God’s will that no man would perish?