But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.

Dear God, as an American Christian in 2023, it is hard to read this passage in the right context. I don’t suffer. I don’t know what it means to suffer. Yes, I have pain from rejection and being unmercifully judged, but that’s just from a few people close to me. It’s real pain, but I’m not being persecuted. I’m don’t have people out to get me–trying to kill me. Holding me back just because of my beliefs.

The most devout Christian group in the country are black Americans. In terms of church attendance, it is largely recognized that they lead all other races in terms of church attendance.

I would posit that it is because they experience more persecution and suffering in their daily lives than white Americans do. I remember once when an Hispanic coworker interviewed me one time for a class. The assignment was to interview someone who is from a different social class and background that the student. One of the things we talked about during the interview was white privilege, which is something I believe to be real. But when she wrote about it she said, “John believes there is white privilege, but he doesn’t take advantage of it.” I told her that she got that wrong. I said, “I can’t help but take advantage of it. For example, when my wife and I are driving back from South Padre Island and they just wave us through at the inland border checkpoint after they ask us if we are U.S. citizens I don’t stop and say, ‘Hold it. You need to look at my ID.’ Whereas your family all has to produce IDs when you go through the checkpoint. And that’s just one example.”

My point is, Peter, Paul, and this first generation of apostles knew what it meant to suffer and so they longed for your return. They longed for a new earth. They longed for an end to this age. They didn’t know why you were taking so long. I’m sure Paul would be shocked to know that 2,000 years have now passed and Jesus hasn’t returned to put an end to the old earth yet. But here we are. And while there are plenty of people in the world who suffer and would love to see this new earth arrive today, I don’t feel that same desire. I don’t live the same kind of life Peter and Paul lived. I’m just a guy who tries to discipline himself to worship you and learn more about you even though I don’t have a desperation for respite from this current earth.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, please combine to make me mindful of those around me who are, indeed, hurting and longing for you. Help me to understand the role you have for me to play in their lives. Help me to know how to bring you to them. Love through me. Live through me. And I also want to thank you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for caring. And in the suffering I have experience, limited as it is, thank you for being my comforter and for being my reason for living.

I pray all of this in your gracious, powerful, and awesome name,

Amen