1 Timothy 1:3-7 ESV
“As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.”
What Really Matters?
There are things that really matter in this life for
eternity, and then there are things that don’t matter for eternity, and we are
wise to know the difference. And then we need to focus our minds and our
learning and our attention mostly on the things which do matter, and we need to
spend much less time or no time at all on the things that don’t matter for
eternity, depending upon what those things are, and how they are being used.
Now we talk much on here about different doctrines and false
gospels, but I feel led of the Spirit that this writing needs to be focused
more on these “vain and fruitless discussions” this passage refers to, for that
is something that is hurting the life of the church and its witness for Jesus
Christ. For, especially on social media and on some Christian discussion sites
(or maybe all), we can witness “Christians” fighting with each other over what?
Usually it is over politics and who makes a better leader in our nation (USA).
Where are We?
Now let’s get this in the context of where we are right now
in the world in relationship to the prophecies of Scripture regarding these
last days before the return of Christ. I don’t know exactly. But I can see the
signs of the times we are living in and how they match up with so many of the
biblical prophecies with regard to these last days. And we are supposed to be
able to see the signs of the times and to recognize when the time is near. And
I am seeing many matches between today’s world and the Scriptures.
So, what are we told about these last days, in a nutshell?
They are a time of great (enormous, gigantic) deception, are they not? False
prophets and teachers and teaching and gospels and christs are all over the
place. Lies abound everywhere we look. Morality hardly even exists anymore.
Immorality is consuming the world and the church, at least here in America, and
the church is on a massive moral and spiritual decline. Do you see it?
So, if we consider the teachings in the Scriptures regarding
these last days before the return of our Lord, and we are able to look around
us to see where we are as a world, and as individual nations, and then we
compare what we see to what we read in the Scriptures, I don’t know how anyone
who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ cannot see that deception and
immorality are everywhere, and not just in the world, but in the gatherings of
the church, and in individual lives of those professing faith in Jesus.
Many Distractions
And Satan has professing Christians distracted around the
clock with video games, smart phones (mini pocket computers), social media,
videos, movies, worldly and fleshly music and entertainment, and with the news
media which keeps the level of fear and angst high. And Satan is also
distracting Christians with politics and political leaders and with who’s who
and what’s what. And so distractions are plenteous and deception abounds via
these distractions, videos, and social media memes.
So, what I see happening is that people’s minds are being
bombarded today with all sorts of media and information, and so many people are
just accepting whatever they hear as truth, though not all of it, for the majority
are not accepting the truth of the gospel, but the majority are believing and
following the lies. But a big part of the lies is to get the people divided and
fighting each other all the time.
And the news media is a huge source of feeding the people
information which gets them worked up and upset and fighting with other humans,
sometimes over things that don’t even exist in reality. But some of these
things, I believe, are planned with the purpose to keep us, the people, in a
continual state of anxiety and division in hopes that we will fight and argue
and take each other down and destroy one another, for that is how Satan works,
and it is how he is working today in many people’s lives.
So, we must realize the times in which we live, and we must
face the reality that not everyone is who he or she says they are, and that not
everyone tells the truth (it seems most do not), and deception abounds, and so
we can’t trust everything we hear or read or think we see. So, just because
someone says it or we read it or we see a video it doesn’t make it real.
Anything and everything can be faked! Videos can be doctored. Stories can be made
up. And actors can make things look real that are fake.
What’s the Point?
Okay, so what is my point? My point is that we must guard
our minds and our hearts against getting all caught up in these messages we
read and hear and assume they are the truth, and then get to the point to where
we fight one another to try to prove who is right and who is wrong, when those
things don’t matter for eternity. And these vain and fruitless discussions only
cause friction between Christians which then result in fights and quarrels over
things which may or may not exist, or that don’t really matter.
So, what really matters? Loving God and obeying him, the
truth of the gospel, the salvation of human lives, and loving one another as
Christ loves us and gave himself up for us. But even there we should not fight
and quarrel and be nasty to one another if we have differences of beliefs. We
can state clearly what we believe, and we can answer people’s questions, but we
should never get engaged in being hateful to one another or in “back and forth”
fruitless discussions which produce nothing good and go nowhere.
So, this calls for much spiritual discernment and wisdom
from God. But we also have to be willing to inquire of the Lord as to whether
or not we are buying into any lies, and if we are believing the lies in place
of the truth, and if we are fighting for things that don’t even exist in
reality, and against one another. And we should want to know the answers to
these things. And then we must focus our lives and minds and conversations on
what matters for eternity and be spreading the love of Christ and the truth of
the gospel.
By Paul Joseph Baloche
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
I want to see You
To see You high and lifted up
Shinin' in the light of Your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing holy, holy, holy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnqb7Vn4AEE
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