Be mindful of the words

Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Saviour, 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? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." - 2 Peter 3v1-4

Peter didn’t mince his words. This Christian thing was not always going to go well; it was going to get tough. The last days would be marked by people who walk according to their own fleshly lusts. They are not going to be content with that. They are also going to scoff and mock our beliefs.

We need to ask ourselves how we are going to deal with this situation. Fortunately we are not left hopeless and helpless in this present age. Peter sends a reminder to his readers about how to deal with the scoffers, ‘be mindful of the words…’ The words he is talking about are the words spoken by the prophets and those commandments which were then being spoken by the apostles. In other words, under the Holy Spirit’s direction, we are being told to be mindful of the scriptures.

We are not going to be able to deal with the scoffers and the licentious with our own wisdom. It is easy to be mindful of the news and current events. In these days of the information superhighway we have all the facts and figures we could possible want right at our fingertips. In some ways it is a great time to be alive. At the same time we cannot afford to neglect our primary responsibility to pay heed to the scriptures. Nothing else can sustain us in the face of scoffing, mockery, and world controlled by lusts and desires.