Good Morning Friends,
“But mark this: There will be terrible times
in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without
love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the
good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God -- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do
with them.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
The description of the people in what Paul
calls the “last days” sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It sounds a whole lot like
what is happening among the people around us right now. Self-focused, greedy,
arrogant, ungodly – that’s what much of our world is like. Although it grieves
us, it shouldn’t surprise us. Without Christ there is no motivation toward
godliness and no power to change if someone wanted to. The power of evil within
a person can’t be controlled without God’s presence in a life.
We could condemn the world for its
ungodliness. Many Christian spend their time criticizing and speaking with
disgust about how the world is getting worse. I’d say
grief is a more appropriate response. The
people of the world are ultimately hurting themselves and moving in a direction
that will result in their eternal destruction. Grieve for them!
And there’s another response that Paul
instructs us to have toward the ungodly people around us: have nothing to do
with them. He’s not saying don’t try to reach them with the Gospel. If that is
what he meant it would deny everything he gave his life to. He’s saying that we
must not buy into their attitudes and their ungodly actions. Don’t get caught
up in the world.
There is a powerful inner lure to move in the
same direction of ungodliness that much of the world moves in. But, remember,
there is an even more powerful power that resides in you to move you away from
it.
His, by Grace,
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment