DARK DAYS AHEAD
Opening Prayer
Father God, help me stay faithful to Your Son, Jesus. Help me see and avoid falsehood. Keep me in Your truth.
Read 2 Timothy 3:1–9
3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How do you determine truth from falsehood?Paul has reminded Timothy to teach the Bible, and now he warns him that things will get worse. There will be terrible days full of terrible people ahead. There will be people peddling a counterfeit Christianity that will prey on the vulnerable and gullible. From this passage, what will it look like?
These people will exhibit a sham Christianity that is both permissive and poisonous. Their loves are totally disordered (2–4), and their “godliness” is a sham (5). It will be the weak and vulnerable who will be swept up in the charade (6,7). Paul is warning Timothy so he will faithfully teach the truth as a means of protecting his people from all of these lies.
This counterfeit Christianity will not survive forever, though; Paul makes reference to the Pharaoh’s sorcerers in the book of Exodus who were only able to copy Moses’ signs and wonders for so long before their game was up. So even in these dark days, Timothy is to have great hope that the truth he teaches will outlast the fraud.
Apply
Take time to think about people you know who have been carried away by false teaching. How can you lovingly encourage them in the truth of God’s Word today?
Closing prayer
Think about new Christians you know and pray they might love the truth and grow in it, and not be deceived by error and falsehood.
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