Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 2 Peter 3:3-4
One of the most powerful and often overlooked forces in our lives is-habit. I know that if you are like me, you probably get up at the same time each day; drive the same way to work each day, and go through the same routines each day at work. At some point, we lose the awe and wonder that children have as they marvel at the everyday splendor that surrounds them and get stuck in a rut of the same old thing day in and day out. How does this happen? Do we really like being stuck in our habits? I mean habits can be harmless and even comfortable much of the time, but they can also be dangerous. We can get used to things we shouldn’t be used to, you may be thinking about gambling or alcohol, but I mean like not wearing our seat belts or changing the batteries in the smoke detector, routine things. We can develop habits of wrong thinking, thoughts that make things seem alright when they aren’t.
It wasn’t that long ago when racism and sexism were everyday habits for most people in this country. People didn’t used to get too worked up about domestic violence; you just kind of minded your own affairs, unless of course you were the victim. People used to laugh off drunk driving as something that the boys did on weekends. We become desensitized to habits since everyone is doing them over and over. We tend to be creatures of routine and get settled in the organization of our thinking and our lives. We resist change and challenge to what we have become accustomed, sometimes violently.
I frequently share my faith by public witnessing; Scripture reading and open air preaching and I often hear unbelievers declare that there is no God. They shout that if God exists let Him strike me down right now. Thankfully for the mockers who so boldly declare these things, God is rich in mercy and patience and does not do as the scoffer’s request. God is not slow. God is actually being very patient with them. Why? He’s giving the scoffers and their friends’ time to change their minds and be saved from The End that’s coming. Just be warned. God won’t wait forever.
People assume that the world will just go on forever the way it always has, until maybe a tragedy impacts their life. Peter called these people scoffers, because they saw the hope that Christians had looking forward to the end of the world and the way they were motivated to share the Gospel, and they scoffed. Things have not changed in two centuries. To these people who scoff, waiting for Jesus seems weird, like a joke. They are wrong.
I agree with Peter’s assessment of how people viewed their times, just like they do today, as if the world were in no way about to change. Peter compares them to the people of Noah’s days, they went on marrying and eating and drinking and giving themselves to merriment. It was inconceivable to those people and the people today, that there was a judgment coming from God. They could not imagine that God would flood the world and wipe out creation. But Noah believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness, and the people called he and his family fools. They couldn’t believe that there was a danger. They laughed at the idea.
Scoffing is fun, it’s easy, and I mean everybody is doing it, right? They mock us, they mock our faith, and they mock our God and count His promises as foolishness. And they stay stuck in their habit-in their routine and “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
The Apostle Peter encourages us not to be intimidated by their jokes, not to let their sneers and smirks divert us from God’s future and promises. He urges us not to let the mockers make us change our minds. Why? Because the scoffers were wrong about the flood, and they paid for their mistake and now we’re waiting for Jesus to come again and scoffers will have an opinion about that too. Be Careful. The Day of Judgment is coming. Don’t laugh. It’s real. Remember the flood!
I know that we all have plans for our future, and there is wisdom in that. We just have to make sure that we are not living like the world, not living for the moment. All the plans we make today should have –“subject to change without any notice” written beside them in parentheses. Any time now, Jesus is going to return with the shout of the Archangel and we need to keep our hope fixed on that. The mockers will laugh and continue to ask us where that trumpet sound is and where are those angels descending, but Jesus is coming. He is waiting patiently, but some day it will be too late for the scoffers.
One of the biggest problems we have is we are a finite and mortal creatures that we see so little. We see the past but can’t change it, we can change the future but we can’t see it. We can’t see how much God is doing in this world, and we can’t always see the signs of Jesus return, because we don’t always notice the right things, but one day there will be a stirring and then a commotion and- Jesus will be here! He promised to come with power and He will judge the living and the dead. Everything that has been concealed will be revealed and all of our secrets that we so desperately protect will come out. Our eyes and our hearts will be opened. And the question that will matter more than anything else will be: What have you done with Jesus? God is giving you time to answer that question. What are you doing with the time?
By Jeff Keeney
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