2 Timothy 3:1-5,12-15 ESV
“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
I believe the Lord Jesus led me to put verses 1-5 with verses 12-15 because they go hand-in-hand. For the people who are lovers of self, who are abusive, unholy, heartless, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, and swollen with conceit, who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, are not only sinning against God, but they are sinning against other humans. They not only deliberately and habitually ignore God’s commands and go their own way, but they deliberately and habitually injure other humans.
The people being described here are those who are liars, deceivers, manipulators, tricksters, who are likely to manipulate others for their own gain. And they do what is low down and dirty and sketchy in behavior, and they behave in unfair and dishonest ways in order to gain advantage over other people. These people make a profession of what they do, i.e. this is their life course, by choice, their habit, what they keep going back to over and over. For this is what occupies their minds and their time, and this is their pursuit, what they do for leisure. It is their interest, their endeavor.
These people make accommodations (allowances) for their sins, by choice, and they keep going backwards, and not forward, and in reverse, in the wrong direction, even though they claim to be Christians. Many of them are sexual addicts, adulterers, liars, manipulators, abusers and those who take advantage of others for their own sinful pleasure, and without conscience or compassion or caring that what they are doing is hurting those they claim to love, usually those who are closest to them and the most vulnerable to being mistreated by them, especially those who may be dependent on them.
Now these people here are also described as those who have the outward appearance of godliness, but who deny its power in their lives. In other words, they are good at putting on a performance outwardly which says that they are Christians and that they are following the Lord with their lives, but while they are still sinning against the Lord, and against other humans, including against their spouses and children, deliberately and habitually, and again, without conscience and without remorse.
Now Paul told Timothy that he was to avoid such people as this. And that can be done if they are people you don’t live with. But if you are a child, and this describes either of your parents, you can’t avoid your parents. And if this describes your spouse, or someone you are financially dependent on in order to live and to pay your bills, how do you avoid your spouse? How do you avoid those you live with, especially those who are paying the bills?
And some people would just say that you can just leave. Easier said than done. For example, at today’s prices, especially, how can a disabled person living on social security afford to live on his own? Or how can a mother of very small children afford to pay daycare and still afford to live anywhere and eat, too? I am just trying to be practical here. For this is the situation many people find themselves in that they can’t leave because they have nowhere to go, or certainly not anywhere that would be any better.
So, then let’s move down to verses 12-15. What does it say? It says that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Jesus and the NT apostles promised us that if we follow Jesus Christ with our lives that we are going to be hated and persecuted and mistreated for the sake of our faith in the Lord. So, even if we were to leave our present situation, if we could, there is no guarantee it will be better someplace else. For we live in very wicked times right now.
So, sometimes we just have to endure unjust suffering for the sake of our walks of faith in Jesus Christ where it is not possible for us to find another situation that is going to be better and not worse. And there is no promise that if we stay with someone who lives like what is described above that we are going to be able to do anything at all to influence them in the right direction regardless of what we do or don’t do. For this says that while we are being persecuted that these people will go from bad to worse.
So, what can we do? We can continue in what we have learned from our Lord from the time we first came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives up to the present time and all that he has taught us in between. We can keeping loving and forgiving and doing good to and praying for those who are our enemies, who mistreat us and who do willful and deliberate evil against us, who are going from bad to worse, and who are deceiving and being deceived. For we cannot change another person’s heart.
And we can continue to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and follow his lead, and obey him and his commands, and live the kind of life he has for us to live regardless of what others do and how they choose to live. And we can keep sharing the gospel and telling people the truth they need to hear, and we can keep rebuking the lies of Satan, and exposing them for what they are, and we can keep on rejoicing in the Lord, even though our circumstances aren’t the best. Paul didn’t have the best ones, either. He spent a lot of time in prison for his testimony for Jesus Christ.
So, whatever your circumstances, pray and ask the Lord how he would want you to respond to them and to those who are mistreating you. Let him lead in this, for we don’t all have the same situations and we don’t all have the same physical resources to change our situations, either. And even if we could, there are no guarantees that the next situation will be any better, if truth be told, especially considering the times we now live in. We definitely should not ever coddle any people in their sins and we should speak the truth in love, but avoiding such people can be a sticky situation for some.
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
https://vimeo.com/379406352
No comments:
Post a Comment