A reading from 2 Peter 3:13-15a (N T Wright translation)

13 “…we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which justice will be at home. That is what he has promised. 14So, my dear family, as you wait for these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, in peace. 15And when our Lord waits patiently to act, see that for what it is—salvation!”

In view of Jesus’ immanent and sudden return, the Apostle Peter calls for a certain kind of lifestyle hedescribes as “holy and godly…without spot or blemish before him, in peace.”

What is it to be “without spot or blemish before him”? Is the apostle calling us to perfection? In a sense, yes. Now we may respond, “I can’t be PERFECT! No one can be.” That’s true too. But ask yourself, would you be satisfied to be anything less than perfect?

Just because the road to a place that’s breathlessly beautiful winds out of sight on the horizon up ahead, am I going to sit in a little comfy meadow off to my left and say to myself, “I’ve traveled far enough”? No, there is something in each of us that yearns, even with tears, for the lost paradise of being “without spot or blemish.” Can you feel it in you?

The apostle Peter writes, “be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, in peace.” Here’s how that comes across to me: keep traveling, that is, keepgrowing. Use absolutely every distasteful thing in your life as a ripe opportunity to grow. So what’s going on? sadness? disappointment? frustration? anger? something fearful or some other adversity? Look up and ask,

“Lord, how do I grow through this? What does it mean for me to respond well to this? What does pleasing you look like right now?”

And the apostle writes: “be found…in peace.” Inner peace may very well be the barometer of whether or not we are growing with what life brings us. An inner disturbance must never be tolerated or we will stagnate. Never leave off talking with God about something until your heart is at peace. The hallmark of when you know how God wants you to handle something is inner peace.