Day 18

The Day of the Lord

from the 1 & 2 Peter reading plan


2 Peter 3:1-13, Genesis 1:6-10, Genesis 7:17-24, Revelation 21:1-8

BY Kaitie Stoddard

You know when you make a big deal out of something pretty insignificant? Maybe your day didn’t start on the right foot, and you just hit a tipping point. Now you’ve completely lost perspective on the matter at hand and can’t seem to right your focus. Does this ever happen to you?

It’s easy to get caught up in the struggles of the daily grind. While we believe the very breath in our lungs is a gift from God, we lose our grasp on the miracle of life when the kids are fighting, a stressful project is due, or a relationship goes awry. It’s natural to focus on the things in our lives that need attention, but how can we do that without losing sight of the bigger picture?

In Peter’s second letter, he reminds believers not to lose sight of the greater story. For Peter, one of the most encouraging things to remember in times of trials was the coming Day of the Lord. So often, we focus on the death and resurrection of Christ but forget His promise to return. When we do, we lose sight of where our lives are headed.

Peter even said that there will be false teachers who question God’s timing and try to convince believers that Christ isn’t coming back. But our hope rests in the trustworthy promises of the Lord. And because Christ said He’ll return like “a thief in the night,” we need to be prepared for His arrival at any moment (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

What does it look like to be prepared? It’s not about storing up good deeds, because nothing we ever do will be perfect enough to deserve heaven. All we need to do is place our trust in Jesus, our Savior. He stands in the gap and covers all our sin. “Based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). These promises rest not on our merit, but on His.

In knowing that Christ will come back at any moment, the stressors of our lives seem less significant. In the new heavens and new earth, a bad grade on a test or an embarrassing moment won’t mean a thing. In fact, “Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). We will be with the one who created us, the one who fulfills our every need. In the midst of the messy and mundane, let’s refocus our eyes upward as we wait expectantly for the coming of the Lord.

 

Post Comments (23)

23 thoughts on "The Day of the Lord"

  1. Ebube says:

    Thanks be to God

  2. Jennifer Anapol says:

    I love this reading today. I know that I all too often can get focused on the things of this life, and I forget that God’s kingdom is where my focus should be. When I’m in heaven, I won’t remember all of the little struggles down here on earth.

  3. Aimee D says:

    Amen

  4. Beth Hinson says:

    I am so guilty of focusing on the daily struggles of life and forget that our greatest promise from the Lord is in preparation right now to be fulfilled! No one knows when He will return, but what a great comfort in knowing that he WILL! I am thankful for studies like this that allow me to store up this truth in my heart to be a faithful, active follower of Christ while we patiently await his return!

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