Today's Devotion: 2 Peter 3:10-11 (New International Version) - 10But 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.[a]
11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.

This reminds us that we will never know when the end times will come. This passage is repeated in several other book of the Bible, as well. We must be ready for that time.

Today's Comments: It is always important to try and understand the context that scripture is written in. When looking at a verse, one should read the verses before and after. Not only does one then begin to understand what the writer was talking about and the events surrounding the writing, but sometimes one discovers other interesting things, as well.

For example, if we expand the reading above to the whole chapter, we arrive at Verse 14 through 16, which state: 14So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

I have very close friends who would like to ignore the words of Paul. Peter is reinforcing our belief in the authenticity and the inspirational nature of scripture. We can't ignore Paul, because if we do, we are also ignoring Peter. If we ignore Peter, what else are we ignoring? I think that one is easy enough for all of us to figure out.