2Peter 3:9(ESV) assures us, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God has promised us a rich inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it will be more than we could ever have imagined. When we compare what is to come with our everyday reality, our present circumstances don’t come close. Most of us are aware of this, and we want God to hurry up, quick fast and in a hurry, so that we can bask in the wonder of all He has in store.
This verse in 2Peter 3:9 tells us that God isn’t slow to bring His promises to past. We are witnessing His incredible patience with us. He is waiting for every person whose name is written in His Book of Life to come to Him and repent. His patience is purposeful to His plan, and this is a paradigm for every aspect of His Will.
When it comes to being single, many of us can relate to thinking that things are moving too slow. We can tolerate one or two years, but waiting for Mr. Right much longer than this seems a bit much. The loneliness can turn into one long stretch of feeling sad and disappointed, and anyone that has experienced this knows how taxing it can be. Although feeling lonely and sad can weigh us down, these feelings also reveal that we are acutely aware of the differences between happiness and sadness. We know when happiness isn’t in our neighborhood, and that’s not a place we want to live. So, the experience of sadness and loneliness can teach us how much we value happiness and how much we believe it is tied to having a significant relationship.
This is important information because it gives us a very clear yardstick of measuring where we are and where we want to be. The vision of where we want to be is the dynamic we must learn to work with and transform. 2Peter 3:9 points out very decisively the difference between where we are right now, living in this world, and it points out where we will be when we return to our heavenly home. None of us have seen heaven with our physical eyes, but we know that earth cannot compare to heaven. However, God tells us about what is to come in His Word so that the vision of the glory that awaits us will remain fresh in our minds and hearts. He doesn’t want us to ever lose sight of the reality that this earth is a temporary dwelling, and that which is to come is more extraordinary than we can imagine. This is our hope, and maintaining hope is crucial to being happy.
Our desire for marriage is sort of a small trial run for our hearts and minds. It’s something many of us truly want, but it hasn’t yet manifested in our lives. Just as there’s a distance between where we are and the reality of God’s promise of our inheritance in Christ, there is a distance between our current single status and the promise of marriage. When it comes to His promise in 2Peter 3:9, God is patiently waiting for the repentance of those that haven’t yet come to Him. What’s this wait about? He’s waiting for the person to change, for them to recognize that they need Him desperately and they need to surrender their lives to Him. He is relentlessly patient to wait for all His children to repent, and He will never break His promise to wait for this.
As we hold on to the vision of getting married to the person God will send, we must come to terms with this distance between being single and being married. In order to bridge that distance, something has to change. This is a truth many have failed to acknowledge. Change begins internally and then, as we are transformed, our external reality will begin to mirror the greater love of Christ that we have anchored in our hearts and minds.
It cannot be lost on us that our refusal to put on more of Christ, and our allegiance to remain where we are in our minds and hearts will translate to remaining the same in our circumstances. Sadness and loneliness don’t speak the truth about the vision of marriage God has given us. They don’t help us put on more of God’s love and faith in our hearts, and they do not represent a true picture of the faith we should have regarding the vision of marriage we should hold for ourselves.
Are you seeing yourself as a woman that is sold-out in your faith in God? Is your heart overflowing with joy because God has made such wonderful promises in His Word to His children? Do you believe that God is the Giver of good and perfect gifts, and He delights in your joy and happiness? Can you see yourself as the most loving, compassionate, selfless and giving wife you can be? The answers to these questions reveal that something inside must change to hold the vision of marriage that God desires for you. Show Him that you are committed to it. Get in His Word and pray that as you renew your mind and learn more about Christ, He will transform your vision of marriage into the reality He has for you. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Something Has to Change”, written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!
