While you're waiting

This week's verse is 2 Peter 3:14:

Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for these things, strive to be found at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence.

In this verse, Peter had been talking previously about the end of the world. He mentions how people have been claiming that it won't end, and then using their doubt as an excuse to continue doing what they want. It's the same story since the tower of Babel: Get rid of religion and we can do anything we want! Except it doesn't work like that.

The people Peter is talking about had been basing their moral decisions on how likely it seemed that God would return to judge the earth. Kind of like kids peeking out the window every now and again to see if it looks like their parents are home yet so they know when to stop doing what they're not supposed to.

Peter tells us that's the wrong focus. It isn't a black and white question of either:

A. God is absent, so we party.

or 

B. God is coming back and destroying the earth right now so we panic to get our lives in order.

We can't just go wild and then clean up as the car rolls into the driveway. We can't hide from God. Just because the trumpet hasn't sounded yet on our world doesn't mean that we don't find ourselves in his presence.

So instead of focusing on when we have to start cleaning up, or whether we ever will in our lifetime, Peter says to focus on being found clean and at peace when we come into God's presence. That could mean the end of the world, or it could mean next time you stop to pray. And sometimes we are even surprised by a sense of God's presence!

Take inventory: If you were standing in front of God right now (and maybe you are without knowing it), is there anything about your life that you would be worried about him knowing? (He already knows, but it's a different thing for a friend to know about something you've done wrong, and quite another for them to confront you about it.) Anything that would disturb that peace of being reunited with God is something to work on.

When you sit down to prayer, is your mind all cluttered up with distractions and worries? Are you in a rush? Prayer should be a time when we're aware of God's presence, and going into prayer without putting things into order is a bit like going to pick up a friend and having junk all over the passenger seat. Take a few seconds to tidy things up. Make a place for him.

We may be waiting the rest of our lives for the end of the world, but it doesn't mean we can't focus on something productive in the meantime. Someone who doesn't love God is afraid or resentful of coming into his presence. He has no peace, kind of how criminals are when they see cops. But we as Christians should be eager to come into his presence, and should prepare for it the same as we would prepare to meet a friend we haven't seen in awhile. We should tidy up now, while we're waiting, so that when he arrives we are ready to welcome him.