Thursday, December
8, 2016
This is my second letter to you, dear friends,
and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and
refresh your memory. I want you to remember what the holy prophets said
long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles. Most
importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come,
mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What
happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors,
everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” They
deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his
command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with
water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty
flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been
stored up for fire. They are being kept
for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. But
you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord,
and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow
about his promise, as some people think. 2 Peter 3:1-9a(NLT)
It is said that the opposite
of love is hate; I think that misses the mark.
The polar opposite of love is indifference. The line between love and hate is very thin,
like a teenager who screams at her mother, I hate you; what she is really doing is crying for the
attention of the one whom she trusts enough to let out the anguish of her
soul. Love and “hate” are too close to call sometimes.
Indifference is deciding
something or someone doesn’t matter…at all!
In the case of the “scoffers”
Peter brings to the attention of the church, they have decided to be
indifferent about Jesus and conveniently (deliberately) put aside the reality
of creation and the whole history of their ancestors who defied God and paid
the price for it. They look around and
offer: well, I don’t see God showing up lately…he’s either non-existent or taking
a nap somewhere…nothing to worry about!
Indifference!
There is a growing indifference
towards God in our culture. You hear very
little overt “hatred” sentiments about God, except in some fringe elements of
society. But those who, when God is
mentioned, just shrug their shoulders and go back to their social media games,
reveal an indifference that is maddening and just plain crazy.
It also reveals a gross ignorance,
if not stupidity, about creation and God’s prior claim on His creation. God made humankind, and that takes
indifference towards God off the table!
Like it or not, you cannot be indifferent forever when it comes to God.
On the other hand, however,
God has left the possibility of temporary
indifference on the table; it is called free
will. We are free to choose
separation from God, but that kind of indifference only keeps the upper hand
until that which is greater says otherwise.
You can, for instance, afford to be indifferent to an ant at your picnic…but
only until the ant informs the other 8-gazillion other ants back at the nest
that you’ve got chocolate cake! That’s
when you’d better believe it when the ant says “otherwise”!
Someday, according to Peter
(Paul, John, Mark, Luke, Matthew and, oh yes, Jesus), God will say otherwise!
For You Today
The
logic of responding to the God who loves us is irrefutable…but there are many
who conveniently try to forget that.
A
good bit of advice from Scripture is…check that amnesia at the door!
NOTES
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