Second Chance: 2 Peter 2

2 Peter 2
√ Re·new·al: the replacing or repair of something that is worn out, run-down, or broken

2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
4 For if God did not spare angels
5 if he did not spare the ancient world
6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
7 and if he rescued Lot
9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 

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This is a convicting chapter filled with evidence of the reality of humanity.  It’s undeniable evidence that makes it easy to jump to the wrong conclusion.  It’s not about “them vs us.  It’s about the undeniable separation between God and man.  Anything else is a wrong comparison.

I felt a little twinge of mean-spirited satisfaction that I’m not “them” as I read.  Having to admit to a mean-spirited attitude at all is bad enough but I read on to discover I have another issue; a kind of holier-than-thou satisfaction that “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment” and God “rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless.”  That’s the “us” I identified with. I liked it but then I realized I missed the point entirely.  

The grim evidence of this chapter is only a reminder we aren’t rescued and renewed by the separation of “them vs us” but by this undeniable truth: God’s Divine justice is absolute, unlimited, unrestricted, unrestrained, unbounded, boundless, infinite, ultimate, total and unconditional.