While we are waiting

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, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? – 2 Peter 3.10-1

So in the midst of all this mess what are we supposed to do. ‘What manner of persons’ ought we to be? 

We have seen the promise of His coming is secure. We have seen the reason  for His ‘delay.’ Now we see how we are to live while we continue to wait. 

The day of the Lord will come as a surprise. Everything is going to end. It will all be burned up. Nothing will be left. 

So what ought we to be in the meantime? What are we to do? 

We ought to walk in holy conduct

We ought to walk in godliness

We ought to walk looking for His return

We are not called to fix the world’s politics. We are not called to be allured by the world’s entertainment. We are not called to sort out the world’s morals. We are called to walk in holiness and godliness. We are called to remember that Jesus is coming back and to draw encouragement from that. We are called not to focus on the visible and temporal. We are called to focus on the invisible and the eternal. 

It reminds of the passage in Titus that says  - ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.’

What is our focus while we are waiting for  the promised return of our Saviour?