How Times Have Changed
…scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. – 2 Peter 3:3 NKJV.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. – 2 Peter 3:10-13.
Recently, I began reading through a diary that my great aunt Carrie Wrather kept for the year 1948. Her husband Adair Wrather was working on a railroad ballast machine mostly in the Texas panhandle. Apparently, each worker on the machine had their own car that they lived in, which traveled with the ballast machine. If the worker was married, the worker and his wife were allowed to live in a private railcar, and that is what my Aunt was doing in 1948. I want to share a couple of the entries that my Aunt made during the year. The first diary entry is from Tuesday, February 3, 1948: “Granville went to get married this morning. He only met the girl Sat. My what funny things do happen and how time has changed since Adair and me married seventeen year ago today.” The second diary entry is from Tuesday, February 24, 1948: “We learned this morning that Granville’s wife has left him.”
My great aunt passed away several years ago, and I’m sure that she would be shocked at how the world has changed in these last few years. What happened to Granville back in 1948 rarely happens now (i.e. needing a divorce), because people rarely bother with the formality of marriage. Why is this happening? It is happening because there is no longer a fear of God. Because, as the apostle Peter said “scoffers will come”, and they have surely come! Today, huge numbers of people are scoffers, doubting that whether they live as God wants them to or not makes any difference.
Does it make a difference whether you live as God wants you to or not? In response, the apostle Peter tells us, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up (2 Peter 3:10 NKJV).” It will be shocking when God demonstrates the reality of His existence and power. How shocking? More shocking than the sudden fiery disintegration of the meteor as it streaked across the sky near Chelyabinsk, Russia last week, unleashing nearly 500 kilotons of energy, which is more than 30 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation…since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:14-15a; 17-18).”
There is a clear choice for each of us to make. We can choose to live like the world believing that there is no God. Or, we can choose to live life believing that God is real and that He is coming again in power and glory.