by By David Jeremiah
Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?”
2 Peter 3:3-4
Most of us rarely encounter scoffers”those who berate and ridicule Christians openly for their faith. But those involved in front-line evangelism encounter scoffers regularly and they are gifted in responding to such attacks. Peter, in the first century, prepared his readers to be challenged about the Lord’s Second Coming.
Even if we are not openly challenged about the tenets of our faith, non-Christians keep a close eye on believers as they go through times of darkness and suffering. While they may offer sympathy and comfort on one hand, on the other they may be thinking to themselves, “Where is the promise of God’s help for His people when they are suffering?” Even if we can’t answer in specifics about our circumstances, we can answer in specifics by our life. When we manifest hope and faith and endurance in the midst of suffering, it is evidence of a power working in and through us.
Faith is “evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). And when others see our faith, they are able to understand our reasons for faith (1 Peter 3:15-16).
[A Christian’s] faith upholds him under all trials, by assuring him that every dispensation is under the direction of his Lord.
John Newton