Breathe

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives. (2 Peter 3:10-11 NIV)

Our culture has become increasingly secular in my lifetime. This is statistically verified in the plummeting of the percentage of Americans who attend a church, along with the sharp increase in the "nones" - the people who, in surveys, choose "none" in response to the question of religious affiliation. In the 1940's the "nones" represented only about 4% of the US population. By 2007 that number had risen to 16%. In 2023 the "nones" represented 28% of the population.

In terms of the current religious landscape, Religionists (people of all faiths combined - Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, etc.) represent just 41% of Americans. Secularists (who claim a humanist or scientific worldview) represent 27%. The Non-Religious (who define themselves specifically as not religious or not attending a church) make up 17% of the population. And Religious Secularists (people who attend a church but have a secular worldview) compose another 14%. So a full 59% of us identify ourselves in one of the three secular categories.

Second Peter, chapter three, verse ten has a sobering warning of a great purging that will take place when the Day of the Lord comes (when Jesus returns). But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. The heavens will disappear. The elements will be destroyed. The earth and everything in it will be laid bare. What the verse does not say is that this purging will make way for a new heaven and a new earth.

I am convinced this verse is not just a warning, it is a beacon of hope. Redemption is coming for the entire created order. The goodness and beauty and innocence of the Garden of Eden will be restored. When Jesus comes, He will usher in the Kingdom of God in all its fullness, and finally, the kind of world we long for will become reality - where illness and death and injustice will no longer take place because the brokenness of sin has been eradicated. What a glorious day it will be!

Verse eleven tells us how we ought to live in the meantime. We ought to live with the end in mind. We can live in such a way now that we will survive the great upheaval. This world, as it exists, is not our final home. Something much better awaits us. Living with the end in mind means living as light in the darkness, pointing the way to Jesus and His Kingdom. Living with the end in mind means living as a remnant people. No matter how secular this world becomes, we must live lives that point to what is sacred and good.

Peter specifically says we ought to live holy and Godly lives. Biblically, holiness means to be set apart from mundane, profane things for service to God. And the heart of biblical holiness is holy love, not legalism and rules-keeping. Jesus summarized all the law of God, which represents God's call to be holy as He is Holy, as loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.

When we truly love God, we lose the desire to sin against Him. When we love our neighbor with God's holy love we become willing to lay down our lives for them. We are called to winsome Christlikeness. Sinners loved Jesus because His life was all about healing and grace, not judgment and rules. But He did not come to abolish the law, He came to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).

If there is a secret in the New Testament that the world misses about holy living, it is this: we cannot make our own lives holy. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our good works do not make us holy. We do good works because the Holy Spirit is making us holy in our hearts. The key is not to try harder and harder to be more Christlike. The key is to be filled with Jesus! It is to be so full of Jesus that He shines through every thought, word and deed of our lives. What we believe matters. And what we do matters.

Back to the "nones" for a moment. When asked directly why they are not religious, 47% indicate an extremely or very important reason why is that they dislike religious organizations. And 30% say bad experiences with religious people explain why they are non-religious. Our holy and Godly living with the end in mind means we can and should be the reason people are attracted to Jesus, not the reason they hate church!

Michael W Smith has a beautiful song, Breathe, that expresses the desire of being filled with Jesus so we live holy and Godly lives:

This is the air I breathe

This is the air I breathe

Your holy presence living in me.

This is my daily bread

This is my daily bread

Your very word spoken to me

And I, I'm desperate for you

And I, I'm lost without you.

Let's make Jesus the very air we breathe. Let's allow His presence and love to make us more and more holy and Godly. The Breath of God living in our hearts is the Holy Spirit. Let's live with the end in mind by making holy love the motivating desire of everything we think, say and do. And when Jesus comes for us, we will hear Him say to us: Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.