How old is the world? Scientists today estimate around 4.54 billion years (give or take a few million). The universe is even older, perhaps as old as 13.7 billion years.

When 2 Peter was written, people probably assumed Earth and the universe were much younger than current estimates. They even may have thought Earth was created first, and the universe followed. Though the writer of 2 Peter did not understand how long the universe had existed, they did understand that our lives are brief compared to the life of God. We experience mere teaspoons of time. For God, time is an ever-flowing stream.

In the busy pace of our lives, especially in this season, it helps to remember God’s kind of time, not ours. We worry about getting things done, meeting deadlines, checking items off our lists, moving on to the next activity. God sees a bigger picture and invites us to see our lives from this eternal perspective. Seen this way, we have all the time we need.

By Grace Burton-Edwards from D365