READ: 2 Pet. 3:15,16: … and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
That the Lord still waits for the day of the Second Coming has everything to do with His patience. The scoffers may think and say that the Lord does not act while they follow their own desires (v. 3,4), but He is, in fact, actively upholding His promises and warnings. For the Lord does not want any of His children to be lost (v. 9).
It is a matter of unfathomable mercy and undeserved salvation that the Lord wants to save all His elect. For this, God even tolerates the growing godlessness. In this way, He fulfills His promises to bring in the full number of the multitude no one can count (Rev. 7:9).
The fact that we ourselves may be included in that number is a cause for the greatest gratitude and joy! Let us not be confused by the worldly behavior of so many Christians, who follow their own desires and appear unconcerned.
The apostle Paul also urged a holy lifestyle in his letters, referring to the day of judgment (e.g., Gal. 5:13ff; 6:5; Eph. 5:5ff), but he also taught that Christ must first complete His work in all of His own before that day comes (Rom. 2:4ff; 9:22-23; Eph. 1:9ff; Col. 1:18ff).
The richness of Paul’s letters, as the inspired Word of God (2 Pet. 1:21!), cannot be underestimated. When people fail to acknowledge this, they will stumble over the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 2:6-16!), especially when that wisdom forbids worldly living and declares the threat of God’s judgment against it.
Do we also see worldliness as a test?
Sing: Ps. 66:4