A most comforting verse for any serious person who is searching for God is found in 2nd Peter 3:9. In it, the Apostle Peter tells us “God is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” “Slackness”, or negligence, connotes the idea of being irresponsible, or dilatory; that is, not making good on what one promised in a timely fashion. God did not do that. He did not behave in the manner of men. On the contrary, God is diligent, the very opposite of negligent.
In addition to God being diligent to our needs, He is long-suffering. This means God patiently bears with us. In fact, says Peter, God is so patient with us He does not wish any of us to perish but, rather, come to repentance and change our mind…come to our senses rather than perish. And, what besides His patience is it that proves God’s great care for us? It is nothing less than God’s provision for us in the person of His own dear Son. That provision, the sinless One who was made to be sin on our behalf, is God’s ultimate proof-positive of His caring for us.
Connect this, if you will, with what Peter’s fellow apostle Paul said in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The meaning of “us” demanded by the context is unmistakable. It is the “us” of humanity. God’s love and God’s long-suffering constitute a glorious duet of His attributes. His love prompted His sending Christ to die in our behalf while His long-suffering holds off His judgment giving man time to repent and avail himself of that gracious gift of His Son.
So, since God said He was not willing that any should perish, what did He do to prove that? God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. That’s what He did, and the sacrificial death of Christ is how He did it. Since God has done His part, what yet remains for man to do? He needs to respond with his will to what God has done with His will. It begins with repentance. He must change his mind about himself, his sin, and God’s remedy for it. And, why should he? Because this is God’s only remedy for man to avoid perishing. God and Christ have done the very most they could do in making the provision so that man might do the very least he can do by simply believing in that provision. God is not willing that any should perish. Motivation for repentance is not only the provision God made through Christ but the need to avoid perishing. Christ said, “Except you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
CC 10-08
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