Advent 12/5/22 Sacred People

Patience in Waiting
Monday, December 5

2 Peter 3:8-13  (NRSV)

But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be destroyed with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and destroyed and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
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How do you handle having to wait? Does waiting for someone or something cause feelings of anticipation or anxiety? Does the time seem to crawl onward in slow motion or pass by in a blur? How are you at being patient? More specifically, how are you at being patient with God?

Patience when waiting is a major theme with Advent. God’s people have waited many times over the years: for a land to call their own, for deliverance from Egypt (and Assyria, and Babylon, and Rome), for a return from exile, for freedom from their conquerors and oppressors, for the Messiah to come, for Jesus to come back. In many of these instances, years pass by before God answers. Generations pass. How can anyone remain patient with God for so long? How do God’s people act during such waits?

The answers are what Peter writes about in today’s reading. First, God is being patient with us. Our Creator loves us so much that He waits to act so that everyone may know Him and turn to Him. Second, we, in turn, are to live “holy and godly lives” (v. 11) in joyful, trusting eagerness and hope. We should live in a way that it doesn’t matter how long it takes for Jesus to deliver on His promise to return. Be it today, tomorrow, months or years from now, if we spend every day doing what Jesus has taught and loving like Jesus loves, every day will be like the day when He comes back.

That type of patience is one in which I know we are capable when we put our faith and trust in Him.
                                                                  -Lauren Fuelling