The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Have you ever noticed how drastically our behaviors change as we approach the end of a life chapter? Whether it’s the senior suffering from senioritis, the employee turning the in two-week’s notice, or the whole decades spent in retirement, the tendency stalks the characters throughout the story. News of finality leads to taking the foot off the gas.

Hear Peter’s words.

The imminent return of our Lord is not a call to laziness but urgency. If Peter could claim the end 2000 years ago, how much closer are we to it today? It seems that because of this, the exhortations become more ambitious.

There is a call to stay the course of faithful, undivided, prayerful living. One that resists the wine of the “what does it matter anyway” thought brought on by a sense of inevitability. Like ringing in the new year in prayer at church while the world parties into drunkenness.

Also, Peter issues a higher bar for how Christians are to love one another. To bear wrongs and shortcomings, to share your possessions, time and money both freely and joyfully – these are impossible if not by the grace God.

The word steward can also be taken as a manager. And good managers don’t break even but return a profit. In the closing chapters of the world we are to be vigilant to have love for another multiply as a testament to the varied grace that enables us to do so. It is as if the king who entrusted his talents to his servants (Matthew 25:14-30) came back to his land disguised as “the least of these” (Matthew 25:35-40) to ensure his investment remained healthy.

So whether or not you see the heavens part at the world’s end, the call is to use the tailor-made gifts stewarded to you. The window of opportunity is open but may not be available forever. The Egyptians once knew how to build pyramids and write hieroglyphics, but have no knowledge of such things today. Seize the moment for his glory, lest you one day look upon Christ and forget who he is and what he has done.