Time
Jack Radcliffe
10/22/2009

Fall is my favorite season of the year. It’s not for the weather; I prefer the heat of summer. It’s for weekends of college football. For sixty minutes of play (that takes three hours), teams battle each other and have to deal with the game clock and the play clock. Plays are called quickly; players have to choose and act quickly. Delays aren’t good and when the clock runs out, the team with the most points wins.

For about the last fifty years, sports has been the overarching storyline that gives frame and meaning to life in America, including Christian America. We’ve got a certain amount of time to accomplish our faith goals. We plan, strategize, and execute for spiritual growth. Getting there means having to make a lot of quick decisions. We always have to be moving forward, whatever that means. No excuses for delays and when the clock runs out, we want to have been found faithful.

In the Bible, God’s people marked time by the activity of God in their lives. In the Old Testament, time would run out on the enemies of God’s people and the “win” would happen when the Messiah came. For Christians, who believe Jesus was the Messiah, it is when he returns to usher in the new heaven and new earth where believers will live with him forever. It’s what he promised and it’s what distinguishes Christianity from every other religion in the world. The problem is, there’s no set timetable; no clock. We know it is coming. We just don’t know when. Not what we’re used to. So what’s taking so long?

Peter tackles that question in 2 Peter 3:8-14.

The first reason he gives for Jesus’ delay in returning is God’s patience (verse 9). There were believers in the church who had been influenced by bad teaching. According to Peter, God wants them to have an opportunity to turn back to God and for those who don’t know God to turn to him.

The second reason Peter gives for the delay of Jesus’ return is so the faith community can be diligent to live godly lives so they would be “found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight” (verse 14). Put another way, believers in the churches Peter is writing to are given time to live faithfully the new life they have received through Jesus Christ.

As the delay of Jesus’ return continues today, the reasons given by Peter for it are still true. God is the same today as then. God is patient with those in the faith community who have wavered (of which there are still many), wanting them to turn back to God. The challenge for the faithful is to not be lulled into complacency as time goes by. In light of the future promised in 2 Peter that is yet to come, Peter’s encouragement to be diligent to live ethically (“pure and blameless in his sight”) in the world and share the gospel so believers can be found faithful is as pertinent today as the day he wrote it.

The believers in the early church thought Jesus would return in their lifetime. We’re still waiting and we have no way of knowing when the clock is going to run out. I’ve got some ideas about how I need to spend the time. How about you?

Jack Radcliffe is a husband and father, a pastor, and a ministry consultant with Youth Ministry Architects in Nashville, TN. He is also an adjunct professor at Martin Methodist College and a seminar presenter for ParenTeen (www.parenteen.com). He has an MDiv from Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio and a DMin in Youth and Family Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary.