Some unbelievers don’t want to see us at peace with God, because they envy our peace. They will do whatever they can to upset us. Like them, Satan hates our peace and spurs unbelievers to upset us. God promised us his peace, even in the midst of struggles (John 16:33, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”) Join me as I examine the jealousy of unbelievers and ways we can find peace, even when they want to take it from us.
When unbelievers reject God, they reject the source of eternal peace. They will have peace with the world but not with the eternal God (Jer.6:14, “They dress the wound of my people with very little care, saying ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.”) The world and our sinful flesh do offer a temporary sense of peace. For example, when Jonah tried to run away from God, he was able to fall asleep on the ship he boarded (Jonah1:5.) But the worlds’ peace does not last, nor does it satisfy the empty soul (Isaiah 48:22, “There is no peace for the wicked.” And Deut.28 :65 “You will find no peace anywhere, no place to call your own; the Lord will overwhelm you with anxiety, hopelessness, and despair.”) As a result, unbelievers keep seeking new ways to try to satisfy their craving for peace.
These unsatisfied unbelievers look at their Christian friends and wonder, as they watch these Christians walking closely with the Lord. The frustrated unbeliever burns with envy, because these Christians have a supernatural sense of peace and contentment (1 Tim.6: 6-8 “True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing. Let us be content.”) While unbelievers continue to strive for peace yet not grasp it, they see humble Christians contented with their lives. Even the unbelievers who become rich, popular, and powerful, still ache inside with emptiness. They cannot understand the contentment of people who are mocked for their faith, and who live simply with far less luxuries. They envy this contentment.
Human pride can cloud the mind of unsatisfied unbelievers. They may sense that their lack of peace with God comes from their rejection of him. Yet they cling to pride and deny this truth. Then, because they do not enjoy the peace the Christian has, they try to destroy it rather than pursue it. This is when unbelievers will attempt to upset contented Christians. They may mock and verbally attack the Christians. They may try to take possessions, jobs, even people from the Christians. This is dangerously true in countries where the Christian faith is not legally protected or may even be illegal. Open Doors (https://www.opendoors.org) and the Voice of the Martyrs (https://www.persecution.com) track the status of Christians who are violently attacked for their faith. They look at the tragedies Christians suffer at the hands of those who envy and oppose them.
But unbelievers also attack Christians in the USA, just less often in a violent way (with exceptions like the murder of Charlie Kirk.) The verbal attacks can occur when an unbeliever lives in the home of a believer (as a roommate, child, parent, spouse, or other relative.) Sometimes the unbeliever does not fully understand why he or she acts so harshly towards the believer. But the ignorance of not knowing why he mistreats others does not mean an attacker is innocent. Mean and cruel treatment of others is always wrong.
What does the believer do when an unbeliever envies and tries to ruin a believer’s peace? Loving and forgiving such a person requires supernatural strength (Matt.18:21-22, “Then Peter came up and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.”) But this does not mean the believer denies the wrong. She (or he) still has a right and need to confront someone who mistreats her. If the mistreatment is very harsh and continues, even after the Christian asks the offender to stop, she may need to pull away from that person. If the mistreatment is not severe, she can reconcile. But she also needs to cover that person in prayer, because Satan blinds people’s eyes to see their sin.
And we must remember that person is not our true enemy, but Satan is. The world and the flesh can never offer true peace. So we need to recognize the source of conflicts with nonbelievers. These are starving people. They starve for peace, and they feast on empty sources. They feel angry that everything they strive for fails to satisfy their souls, even if they achieve financial success. They feel deeply frustrated. In their spiritual blindness, they don’t understand their perpetual failure to feed their soul. Then they look at the Christian who walks closely with Christ. This person does not rush about, striving for contentment. Instead, she seems to live effortlessly at peace. The unbeliever may not see the work this woman puts into her Christian life. He might not see this woman (or Christian man) reading her Bible and meditation on it, memorizing Scripture and applying it to her life, praying fervently throughout the day, fasting, attending church and volunteering to help others. Yet even if the unbeliever saw some or all of those things, he would still notice the calm demeanor that the believer has most of the time. Of course believers do cry, get angry and worry. But a believer who walks closely with the Lord will not be upset and irritable all the time.
This calm infuriates the unbeliever who lacks it. He knows how much he has striven to make money, accrue power, and prestige. Yet none of these things have brought him lasting peace that this humble Christian has achieved.
So he mocks the unbeliever. He may act loud or even rude in front of the believer. He may mock the Christian’s praise music, Bible, and her prayer time. But under all the cruel words and ugly behavior of the unbeliever, a starving heart exists that yearns for what this woman has, yet due to the unbeliever’s pride, he will not attain. It is a terrifying thing to face one’s sin and pride, especially if an unbeliever has lived for decades with these defects (Hebrews 10:31 “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”) The paradox is that if this unbeliever faces the wrath of God and admits to being a sinner, God no longer has wrath for him. People have such a hard time accepting this paradox, but most of all, they cling to their pride, because that feeds the flesh, albeit by starving the soul.
This is the opposition. The flesh demands pride to feed it, but this starves the soul and leaves the unbeliever without peace. And this is the terror the Christian has left behind, especially a Christian who walks closely with the Lord. So the unbeliever at times hates the believer, due to envy over that amazing peace the strong Christian has.
So when an unbeliever taunts you and mocks you, please know this is a starving person who actually envies you. You have what this person can never have while he is stuffed full of fleshly pride. God may need to break this person and allow him (or her) to suffer pain before his toxic pride can be squashed. That hate-filled pride will keep the unbeliever out of heaven, and God would rather squash the pride and then save that person’s soul then let him (or her) live with the pride and then rot in Hell for an eternity. God will not send anyone to Hell; people choose Hell over God, because of their pride. They rush off to destruction over Jesus’ protests and over his cross. He calls everyone to let him save them. There is no need for anyone to suffer in Hell.
So when an unbeliever is cruel to you, pray for his (or her) salvation. You do have a right to confront that person, but also pray for him! You have so many gifts this person lacks, from the rich peace that satisfies your soul, to the love of Christ that quenches the worst of spiritual thirsts, to the eternal life that will never disappoint you.
I pray we have blessed you with this week’s post that may be a bit hard to read, yet true and essential. May the Lord bless you and protect you from the wrath of any unbelievers who may envy you!
If you wanted to see other Bible verses about the lack of peace of unbelievers, you can look these up: 1Thes.5:3, Isaiah 59:8, Romans 3:17, Psalm 120:6, Ezekiel 7:25, Jeremiah 30:5, Luke 19:42, Matthew 10:34, Luke 12:51.