How To Deal With a Scoffer

One of the tenants of the Christian faith is that God and Jesus are one and therefore always in agreement.  So when I find something in the New Testament for example, I like to see if I can find confirmation in the Old Testament.

I found a Scripture in Proverbs that provides an example of what I am talking about.

Proverbs 9:7(NKJV)

7    “He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself,      And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.

I have written a couple of times lately about the example that Jesus sets for dealing with scoffers.  People who aren't truly seeking God but instead are trying to dissuade others from even believing. 

The example that Jesus gives us is that He doesn't play their games.  He doesn't spend His time and energy trying to convince them, trying to talk them into believing.  Jesus respects their free will choice of rejecting Him and Jesus moves on.  They have condemned themselves and He accepts that.  They are always welcome to change their mind and Jesus will accept them with open arms but He doesn't force Himself on others.  As I said, He respects their free will choice.

Now I know some who would say we shouldn't make that judgment about others and we should try to save all.  My answer would be that we aren't talking about any judgment what so ever.  We are talking about people who through action or word have made it clear that they reject Jesus.  They have heard the message of saving grace and they have purposefully rejected it. 

So it was interesting to run across todays Scripture which I think says pretty much the same thing.  Don't waste your time debating the enemy.  They aren't  honestly seeking and are not going to be convinced.  Your efforts are more likely to bring you down than win the person over.  Notice the Scripture tells us that you only harm yourself when you do this.

Some may be thinking, but Jesus told us to preach the Gospel to the whole world.  That is correct.  He did tell us to do that.  If someone has rejected Jesus then that tells us that they have heard the message and rejected it.  What Jesus didn't tell us to do is beat people over the head with the Bible until they submit.  Make sense?