Live for Christ

Peter motivates his readers to pursue godliness and holiness by reminding them that the world’s enticing temptations are a part of a value system that God has promised to destroy. He poignantly describes the complete decimation of the current order of things. “The day of the Lord will come” he writes, “like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved” (2Pt.3:10).

Because the present world is the source of endless distractions and sinful enticements that assault our devotion to Christ, Peter calls us to remember what endures. What we do for God will last. How we invest our hours in Christ’s agenda will have a transcendent worth. “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,” Peter goes on to ask, “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?” (v.11).

Clearly it makes no sense to dabble in the world’s agenda and imbibe in the passing pleasures of sin. Every sinful impulse that is denied and every idolatrous path that is forsaken will yield eternal dividends and be pondered from the next world as a small sacrifice in such an advantageous investment. You can be sure that one day soon this world will be gone and “the time for rewarding God’s servants will come” (Rev.11:18). So remember what lasts and live a godly life for Christ today.