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REFLECTION

Looking back and looking forward is the theme for our reflection. Looking back means to think or reflect on past events. Looking forward means to be expectant of an event that is yet to take place or unfold. Peter looks back at God’s creation, destruction, and recreation of the broken world and looks forward to the arrival of God’s new and eternal world on the day of the Lord. We shall reflect on the fact that looking back and looking forward must guide and awaken us to live a purpose-driven and heaven-conscious life.

Beloved in the Lord, In 2 Peter 3:1-10, Peter reminded his audience of the history of creation, human disobedience, and God’s judgement and consequently gave them a firm assurance of the second coming of the Lord and its eternal ramifications. This is to counter the fake teachers who taught that there is no life after death. Peter’s aim or purpose of reminding his audience of the past and encouraging them to look forward to the day of the Lord is for them to be watchful or prepared by living a purpose-driven and heaven-conscious life. Peter admonished them, “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” (2 Peter 3:11-14). Beloved in the Lord, one of the ways to look back and look forward so as to live a purpose-driven and a heaven-conscious life is to study the Word of God daily and obey it through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Peter was able to look back, look forward, and encourage others because he studied and meditated on God’s Word consistently. It is for this reason that he was able to warn and enlighten his audience against false teachers and to help them prepare and focus on the day of the Lord. (2 Peter 3:1-7).

Dear friend in the Lord, it important to emphasize the point that to please God and to live a purpose-driven and heaven conscious life, “This Book of the Law (in the case of a Christian, the Scripture) shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8). Beloved in the Lord, how prepared are you for the day of the Lord? Do you consciously and consistently look back and forward by studying the Word of God daily while preparing for the day of your departure from this world? Are you living a purpose-driven and heaven-conscious life in your marriage, at work, and in society? Jesus assures us that “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Luke 12:37-40). If you are still alive today, then the good news is that we still have the opportunity to look back and look forward towards repentance and regeneration through the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, our looking back and looking forward must lead to a purpose-driven and heaven-conscious life.

In summary, we have deliberated on the theme ” looking back and looking forward.” We have discovered that looking back and looking forward must guide and awaken us to live a purpose-driven and heaven-conscious life even as we await the day of the Lord or the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Shalom.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, strengthen us through Your word to consciously live purpose-driven and heaven-conscious lives by consistently looking back at Your mighty works and assurances and also looking forward to Your promises and Salvation. Amen.