Holiness or a Holy Mess?
Are You Settling for a Holy Mess?
There's something oddly comforting about worn-out things. That favorite pair of socks with holes in the toes. The jeans with the frayed hems. We hold onto them because they're comfortable, familiar. We tell ourselves they still work, even when they clearly don't serve us anymore.
But what happens when we treat our spiritual lives the same way?
What if the very things we think are bringing us peace are actually keeping us from the true fulfillment God has for us? What if we've been calling something "holy" simply because it's familiar, when God is calling us to something genuinely transformative?
The Danger of Spiritual Comfort
Second Peter chapter 3 addresses a specific type of person: the scoffer. These aren't just skeptics or doubters—they're people who have grown so comfortable with their version of faith that they belittle, question, and reject what God actually calls holy.
Peter writes: "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 the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days."
The contrast is striking. Peter addresses his audience as "beloved"—divinely loved by God. This is the primary identity of every believer. Not just forgiven, not just redeemed, but deeply, personally loved. Everything we do should flow from this reality: God loves me, therefore I live for Him.
But scoffers operate differently. They embrace what's comfortable rather than what's holy. They question God's promises, belittle His patience, and redefine His grace as permission to continue in sin rather than power to be free from it.
Three Ways Scoffers Embrace a Holy Mess
1. They Reject God's Power
Scoffers question whether God's Word actually carries weight. "Where is the promise of His coming?" they ask. They see circumstances continuing as they always have and conclude that God either isn't powerful enough to act or doesn't care enough to intervene.
This attitude discounts the very foundation of faith. From Genesis onward, we see that God spoke and everything came into existence. Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. Numbers 23:19 reminds us: "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should need to repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"
When we belittle healing, when we dismiss miracles, when we reduce God's promises to metaphors that make us comfortable, we reject His power. We settle for a theology riddled with holes rather than trusting in the God who created everything.
2. They Reject God's Judgment
Perhaps nothing makes modern believers more uncomfortable than the reality of God's judgment. We prefer to focus on His love while ignoring His holiness. But Scripture is clear: the same God who flooded the earth, who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, who struck Egypt with plagues, is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
When we ignore God's judgment, we actually discard His mercy. Think about it: if there's no real judgment, no real consequence for sin, then the cross becomes meaningless. Why would God need to pour out His wrath on Jesus if sin wasn't that serious?
The truth is that God poured out all His judgment on Christ so He could pour out mercy on us. The law being upheld, judgment being real—these things reveal our brokenness and show us why we desperately need forgiveness. You can't have mercy without justice. You can't receive forgiveness for something that doesn't matter.
3. They Reject God's Patience
Scoffers look at the fact that judgment hasn't come yet and assume God doesn't care. They treat His patience as permission. "I'll get serious about faith later," they think. "I'll start living for God when I'm older, when I have kids, when things settle down."
But Scripture tells us that God's patience is meant to lead us to repentance, not to give us license to continue in sin. Second Peter 3:9 explains: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
God's patience is actually His kindness—giving us another day, another opportunity to turn to Him. But that patience won't last forever.
Living as the Beloved
The contrast to being a scoffer is being beloved—someone who embraces God's holiness rather than settling for a holy mess.
Believers focus on eternal truth, knowing it can transform present realities. They don't look at their circumstances and question God's love or power. Instead, they trust His Word, embrace His judgment as righteous, and respond to His patience with urgency.
When God says something is sin, believers don't redefine it to be more comfortable. When God calls us to holiness, we don't make excuses. When God commands us to share the gospel, we don't let awkwardness hold us back.
Consider the words of Penn Jillette, the magician and devout atheist, who said: "I don't respect people who don't proselytize. If you believe that there is a heaven and a hell and that people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?"
Even an atheist recognizes the inconsistency of claiming to believe in eternal consequences while living as though they don't matter.
Ripping Up What Needs to Go
Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is completely destroy what's holding us back. Not just set it aside, but rip it up so we can't go back to it.
What comforts have you been embracing that need to be rejected? What excuses have you been making that need to end? Where have you been settling for "holy enough" instead of pursuing true holiness?
The call isn't to try harder or be perfect. The call is to trust God's power to transform you, to take His judgment seriously, and to respond to His patience with gratitude and urgency.
You are beloved. Deeply, personally, eternally loved by God. Everything you have is His, and everything He has is yours. Live from that identity. Don't waste another day settling for a holy mess when God is calling you to His perfect holiness.
Today is the day of salvation. Not tomorrow. Today.
There's something oddly comforting about worn-out things. That favorite pair of socks with holes in the toes. The jeans with the frayed hems. We hold onto them because they're comfortable, familiar. We tell ourselves they still work, even when they clearly don't serve us anymore.
But what happens when we treat our spiritual lives the same way?
What if the very things we think are bringing us peace are actually keeping us from the true fulfillment God has for us? What if we've been calling something "holy" simply because it's familiar, when God is calling us to something genuinely transformative?
The Danger of Spiritual Comfort
Second Peter chapter 3 addresses a specific type of person: the scoffer. These aren't just skeptics or doubters—they're people who have grown so comfortable with their version of faith that they belittle, question, and reject what God actually calls holy.
Peter writes: "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 the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days."
The contrast is striking. Peter addresses his audience as "beloved"—divinely loved by God. This is the primary identity of every believer. Not just forgiven, not just redeemed, but deeply, personally loved. Everything we do should flow from this reality: God loves me, therefore I live for Him.
But scoffers operate differently. They embrace what's comfortable rather than what's holy. They question God's promises, belittle His patience, and redefine His grace as permission to continue in sin rather than power to be free from it.
Three Ways Scoffers Embrace a Holy Mess
1. They Reject God's Power
Scoffers question whether God's Word actually carries weight. "Where is the promise of His coming?" they ask. They see circumstances continuing as they always have and conclude that God either isn't powerful enough to act or doesn't care enough to intervene.
This attitude discounts the very foundation of faith. From Genesis onward, we see that God spoke and everything came into existence. Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. Numbers 23:19 reminds us: "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should need to repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"
When we belittle healing, when we dismiss miracles, when we reduce God's promises to metaphors that make us comfortable, we reject His power. We settle for a theology riddled with holes rather than trusting in the God who created everything.
2. They Reject God's Judgment
Perhaps nothing makes modern believers more uncomfortable than the reality of God's judgment. We prefer to focus on His love while ignoring His holiness. But Scripture is clear: the same God who flooded the earth, who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, who struck Egypt with plagues, is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
When we ignore God's judgment, we actually discard His mercy. Think about it: if there's no real judgment, no real consequence for sin, then the cross becomes meaningless. Why would God need to pour out His wrath on Jesus if sin wasn't that serious?
The truth is that God poured out all His judgment on Christ so He could pour out mercy on us. The law being upheld, judgment being real—these things reveal our brokenness and show us why we desperately need forgiveness. You can't have mercy without justice. You can't receive forgiveness for something that doesn't matter.
3. They Reject God's Patience
Scoffers look at the fact that judgment hasn't come yet and assume God doesn't care. They treat His patience as permission. "I'll get serious about faith later," they think. "I'll start living for God when I'm older, when I have kids, when things settle down."
But Scripture tells us that God's patience is meant to lead us to repentance, not to give us license to continue in sin. Second Peter 3:9 explains: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
God's patience is actually His kindness—giving us another day, another opportunity to turn to Him. But that patience won't last forever.
Living as the Beloved
The contrast to being a scoffer is being beloved—someone who embraces God's holiness rather than settling for a holy mess.
Believers focus on eternal truth, knowing it can transform present realities. They don't look at their circumstances and question God's love or power. Instead, they trust His Word, embrace His judgment as righteous, and respond to His patience with urgency.
When God says something is sin, believers don't redefine it to be more comfortable. When God calls us to holiness, we don't make excuses. When God commands us to share the gospel, we don't let awkwardness hold us back.
Consider the words of Penn Jillette, the magician and devout atheist, who said: "I don't respect people who don't proselytize. If you believe that there is a heaven and a hell and that people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?"
Even an atheist recognizes the inconsistency of claiming to believe in eternal consequences while living as though they don't matter.
Ripping Up What Needs to Go
Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is completely destroy what's holding us back. Not just set it aside, but rip it up so we can't go back to it.
What comforts have you been embracing that need to be rejected? What excuses have you been making that need to end? Where have you been settling for "holy enough" instead of pursuing true holiness?
The call isn't to try harder or be perfect. The call is to trust God's power to transform you, to take His judgment seriously, and to respond to His patience with gratitude and urgency.
You are beloved. Deeply, personally, eternally loved by God. Everything you have is His, and everything He has is yours. Live from that identity. Don't waste another day settling for a holy mess when God is calling you to His perfect holiness.
Today is the day of salvation. Not tomorrow. Today.
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