Stir Up Our Minds

”Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder)” (2 Peter 3:1, NKJV). Peter‘s message about the end of the present world and the beginning of the new earth is meant to stir up a hope in us and keep us from being anchored to this world.

This is the truth meant to ‘stir up our minds‘: ”Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11). All that people hold precious, all that they labor a lifetime to keep and enjoy, is going to dissolve in a sudden burning.

Try to imagine it. All Wall Street firms, corporate offices, banks, computer headquarters—gone! The United Nations will vanish. State and federal capitol buildings will burn to oblivion. Fort Knox and all its gold will disappear. There will not be any more manufacturing plants, skyscrapers, bridges, tunnels, airplanes, or trains. There will not even be any ashes left. God‘s Word clearly says that all these things shall be burned up or ‘dissolved‘.

The Greek word for ‘dissolved‘ means ”to loosen, break up, and melt down.” In other words, God is going to break up the party. He will pry people loose from everything they lust after and then melt it all in intense heat.

Many Christians get too comfortable in this world and end up turning away from the Lord. Prosperity, acceptance, or recognition captures their hearts and minds.

I want to share with you a truth that will help you rejoice if the secular workplace never fully accepts you. If you are devoted to Jesus, it doesn‘t matter where you work—a bank, in a school, cleaning the streets, wherever—you will experience some rejection, condescension, or misunderstanding. You may receive little or no credit for what you do. You may be persecuted, ridiculed, talked about behind your back. You realize you will never be ”one of the guys” or part of the ”the girls‘ group.” So you never feel comfortable or truly secure. Why is this so?

It is all the Lord‘s doing. He permits it so you will not become hooked on this transient world.