In 2 Peter 3:3, the apostle gives a warning to his fellow Christians: “scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.”
He is about to teach them about the return of Jesus. There are “scoffers,” he says. Literally, the text says “scoffers in their scoffing.” They doubt God, they doubt the prophets, and they doubt that Jesus will ever come back. As a result, they “scoff” at believers.
Here’s why I think this should encourage you. If people have ever scoffed at you because of your beliefs, you’re not alone! In fact, it’s been happening since the says of the apostles!
Unfortunately, we can fall into a mindset where we care more about what other people think than what God thinks. When that happens, and when we feel the weight of the sideways glances of the people around us, we can be tempted to shrink back from our beliefs.
As I’ve said before, as followers of Jesus, we need to fall out of love with fitting in.
The fact of the matter is that scoffers are a part of life, and they are a part of our faith as well. They scoffed at Jesus. The scoffed at the apostles. They scoffed at the first generation of the church, and they continue to scoff today.
And guess what. That’s okay.
We don’t retaliate. We don’t yell. We don’t put them down. With humility, we follow a different path. Paul says it very direction in 1 Corinthians 4:12-13: “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.”
If joy were a book, I think there’d be a chapter about responding to scoffing with smiling. Let’s fall out of love with fitting in, and more in love with faithfulness.
Notes:
-Bible quotes, ESV.
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