2 Peter 3

2 Peter 3:8-10  But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

It’s interesting – the past couple of days a certain topic keeps coming up in conversations that I have.  People definitely have their opinions about this one.  The Church as a whole is very divided over this topic.  In fact, The Church has been known to slander and physically harm those of the opposing camp.  Not our finest moment.  Why can’t we all just get along?

The argument?  Calvinism vs. Armenianism.  The Elect vs. Free Will.  Both of these theological viewpoints have Biblical support.  The Bible does talk about the elect and those who are the chosen.  It also talks about choice and our passage today states that God desires all to come to repentance.  Christians sometimes spend so much time arguing with one another that we miss opportunities to reach the lost.  We focus on developing a better argument than our opposition that those outside the church just see us as dysfunctional.

But at the end of the day we all agree that we are made in God’s image.  We all agree in the trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We all agree that Jesus died for our sins on the cross.  We all agree that Jesus is the only way to Salvation.  So, again I ask why can’t we all just get along?

If we can just stop trying “to win” this argument and start partnering to win the world, that would be a huge win for The Kingdom.  I think we should continue to seek out new ways to partner with churches in our area that are of different denominations.  I love the quote from Peter Meiderlin (a 17^th century Lutheran Pietist), “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”  If we focus on the main thing, everything else will fall into place.

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy