Four Exhortations to the “Beloved” (3)—Be Diligent - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.
2 Peter 3:14

Four Exhortations to the "Beloved" (3)—Be Diligent
The first two of Peter's exhortations to the "beloved" are both connected with the coming of the Lord; the beloved ones were exhorted to "be mindful" of it and not to forget it (v. 1). This was in light of scoffers who would appear in the last days. The beloved should not "be unaware" of this fact. God does not count time as we do; any delay in Christ's coming is really not a delay, but evidence of God's grace (v. 8).

In turning to today's verse, the exhortation to the beloved also is related to Christ's coming, diligence in godliness is necessary in light of events connected with the "day of the Lord." They are called to "be diligent" because everything which we see round about us, in this present creation, "will be dissolved" and "a new heaven and a new earth" are coming (vv. 12-13; cf. Rev. 21:1). This is a tremendous motivation for us to "be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless" (v. 14). Seeing that everything here will dissolve and "melt with fervent heat," it would be inconsistent for the beloved to be deeply entangled in the world's plans, pursuits, and pleasures. Let us keep ourselves "without spot" (cf. Jas. 1:27; Jude 23).

The Bible could not be clearer than it is: the "world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:31; 1 Jn. 2:16), even as Robert Frost has penned,

Nature's first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower; but only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

Beloved, "what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness" (v. 11). Amen!

Brian Reynolds