What kind of people ought you to be?

"But 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 done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming."  2 Pet 3:10-12a (NIV)

In the One Singapore Conversation (OSC), one of the questions asked was: "What kind of society and what kind of people do we want to be?  Living in a multi-racial society, we ought to be gracious and kind, according mutual respect and understanding to one another.  And as citizens of heaven, we are exhorted to be kind, tender-hearted and forgiving towards each other, just as God in Christ also forgave us (Eph 4:32).  It is not easy to be kind, tender-hearted and forgiving.  Our natural tendency is to return evil for evil - an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (Mt 8:38-41).  In a society that is very much engaged in uploading information on the world wide web, an uncalled for remark or movie that denigrades others can certainly engender a lot of hatred, anger and violence.  It takes great courage to temper our response with grace and mercy, recognising that we have our own imperfections.  Neither do we want the perpetrators of uncalled for remarks or movies to get away scot free.  

The reality, as found in the scripture quotation above, is that this earthly life of ours would not last forever.  All of us would die physically one day whether we like it or not, unless the Lord returns to take us home.  Our physical body will go back to the dust, most likely either through burial or cremation.  Likewise, Peter prophesied that this earth will undergo cremation with intense heat when the day of the Lord arrives.  That would be a terrible day when everything in sight would be completely destroyed as if like a nuclear holocaust.  Fire, as symbolised in scriputre, is used to denote purging and refining (Mal 3:2-3).  As believers, our motivation to live holy and godly lives should come from within as opposed to allowing it to come from without to chastise and refine us.   

So what kind of people ought us to be?  The apostle Paul gave us the answer:
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."  Col 3:12-14 (NIV) 

We ought to love and forgive one another - demonstrating God's unconditional love towards one another.  By this Jesus said will all men know that you are my disciples (Jn 13:34-35).  That's what we have been called to be - holy - set apart for God's service.