“In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.”
speaking evil of you
“Speaking evil” is literally to blaspheme but means in this context malign. The fast crowd of verse three do not like Christians because the life of the Christian condemns them. People hate to have their sins exposed. The new life stands in stark contrast to theirs, so they love to rail at Christians.
1 Pe 3:16, “Having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.”
They will slander you and lie about you. They will misquote you. They will try to do anything to ruin your testimony.
Mt 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
PRINCIPLE:
Dynamic testimony will draw criticism.
APPLICATION:
The Christian’s testimony threatens the value system of those who live without limits, so the Devil’s crowd will seek to injure your reputation. They will drop words to defame your character. They love to slander Christians because their testimony casts aspersions in the direction of their lives.
The surprise of the wild crowd causes them to slander Christians for their new values and orientation. It seems incredible to them that you would walk away from a philosophy of pleasure: “Why lose all these pleasures?” They cannot comprehend this. “How can you go for that Jesus stuff?” So they will use anything to ridicule Christians.
Do you care about what the fast crowd thinks about you? Are you in slavery to opinion, or do you stand independent from the crowd? The group usually preys on people who do not have a core to their character. They capture people who are swept along by the opinions of people. Unfortunately, this is not true for the Christian.
The Christian who breaks off from the fast crowd becomes a point of conversion among the group. They crank up negative attitudes about this. The group develops bitter attitudes. They do not like to be jilted.
You may have to stand alone in the office or school. You may stand out like a speckled bird, but when they come to a crisis, they will remember you. When that divorce comes along, they will remember that there is another alternative. Our testimony condemns them as nothing else could.
