Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the First Sunday of Advent; Year 2
Morning, Psalm 18:1-20; Evening, Psalm 18:21-50;
Amos 4:6-13; 2nd Peter 3:11-18; Matthew 21:33-46
“Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures;” (2nd Peter 3: 14 to 16).
Not that we will ever achieve being without spot or blemish, we should still strive to be found at peace. I have found that being patient in all things is a key step in being at peace. The writer in this passage considers the patience of the Lord as salvation. I think so also.
I often thought Peter and Paul were Christian adversaries. But here we have Peter uplifting “our beloved Paul” and asking us to look deeper into his letters to find real divine meaning and wisdom as it had been given to Paul. Further, he says, let us not twist Paul’s words to our own destruction as many do with all scripture.
I believe that it is with patience and the search for love in all things that we will find peace, that peace which surpasses all understanding.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Palistine and our schools.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 