Wednesday; June 28

        When the Apostle Paul wrote to a young minister he was mentoring he painted a rather grim picture.  He began by warning him, “… in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of  money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power …”.  (II Timothy 3:2-5)  If that wasn’t bad enough, he went on to caution, “… evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived”. (II Timothy 3:13)  That sounds pretty rough doesn’t it?  Could there be any hope for him as a Christian or for the church in the First Century?  The answer was yes, but it required a decision to, “… continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”.  (II Timothy 3:14-15)
        Do we ever get discouraged about the fate of today’s society?  It is easy to lament the current state of affairs and wonder what the future holds for our society and for our church.  It is easy to lament that this has to be the worst of times, how can God’s people endure in this pit of unrighteousness?  The good news is that the answers to these questions are found in the Bible.  First, the Word of God reminds us that there has always been evil – often to extremes that overshadow our current depravity (remember sinfulness of Sodom or the child sacrifices to Moloch).  Yet, more importantly, the Bible reminds us that the answer to godlessness is to simply follow the Word of God.  The solution to the world’s evil and our faithfulness is adherence to the Scriptures. 
Let’s keep the faith.  There is hope for the world – one person at a time – beginning with each one of us.

Think About It!

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