Un-Godly – what does it mean?

As many of you know, we have been going through the book of 2 Peter.  This past week, we looked at the first seven verses of 2 Peter, chapter 3.  Verse 7 closes this section with, “By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” The word, ungodly, jumps out at me in this particular verse – what does it mean.  We tend to use it in phrases such as ‘ungodly behavior’ (meaning morally thought to be wrong) or ‘ungodly hour’ (meaning an outrageous hour or time).  But if we break this word down – what does it really mean?

I think most of us would agree that in it’s most simple and pure form, it means ‘apart from God’ – or unlike God.  In John 14:6, Jesus makes it clear that He is the only way to the Father – “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” In 1 John 2:23 we are told that “No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” From this we know that unless we believe in Jesus, then we are apart from God and therefore the natural deduction follows that such a person would be considered ‘ungodly‘.

Friends, it is this truth that causes my heart to ache – it aches for the lost, ‘the ungodly‘.  According to verse 7 in 2 Peter 3, there is only “judgment and destruction” for such as these.  Time is short – people are dying every day and people that are indeed ‘ungodly’.

Do you feel the urgency – the need to “therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” as Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28:19.

Don’t be misled.  Many people may claim to be ‘spiritual’ or they may be ‘good’ by the world’s standards – they do good things.  However, there are only 2 spirits in this world – the Holy Spirit and the spirit of the world (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).  Again, unless one has Jesus, he or she cannot have the Holy Spirit.  Therefore it follows that a so-called ‘spiritual’ person isn’t necessarily a person who has the HOLY SPIRIT.

Friends, the reality is this – only those who have been redeemed by Jesus will be saved from the awful day of judgment and destruction.  We must get busy – going about doing our FATHER’S business.  Will you ask God today to speak to you and tell you what HE wants you to be doing?  Will you take some time today to ponder what you can do to further the KINGDOM OF GOD – and be a Kingdom Builder?

Time is of the essence – do you believe that?  People are dying and many will not see the Kingdom of God.  Let’s go about doing our Father’s business and ‘make disciples’.  Let’s tell someone about Jesus TODAY!