What kind of people ought you to be?

Albert Barnes

(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)

2 Peter 3:10-12,
"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 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 as you look forward to the day of God and desire its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat!"

These facts ought to be allowed to exert a deep and abiding influence on us, to induce us to lead holy lives. We should feel:

  that there is nothing permanent on the earth;

    that this poor world is not our abiding home;

      and that our great interests are in eternity.

We should be serious, humble and prayerful. We should make it our great object to be prepared for the solemn scenes through which we are soon to pass.

A habitual contemplation of the truth that all that we see is soon to pass away--would produce a most beneficial effect on the mind.

It would make us serious and sober-minded.

It would repress worldly ambition.

It would lead us not to desire to accumulate what must so soon be destroyed.

It would prompt us to lay up our treasures in Heaven.

It would cause us to ask with deep earnestness whether we ourselves are prepared for these amazing scenes, should they suddenly burst upon us!

"The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." Romans 13:11