“In the last days they will hold to the outward form of our religion, but reject its real power…” (2 Timothy 3:5 GNT)
In this day and age, everyone is out of the closet, except –
unfortunately – for Christians, who many times feel bullied into keeping
quiet about their faith. Everything seems to be relative, so that our
society’s moral compass has been compromised and folks are left to
do what is right in their own eyes.
There’s only one problem with all
of this: truth is not relative! Truth is objective,
and not dependent
upon people’s belief systems. You can’t make up truth and you can’t wish
it away.
Jesus said something powerful /when he proclaimed, “I am the
way, the truth and the life.”
This goes against our societal
relativism, which points to the politically correct jargon that there
are many pathways
/to morality and, ultimately, to God.
For the Christian //who wants to belong and be in with the “in crowd,”
this poses a problem. Jesus said, “If they hated me, they will hate you
as well.” So, if you want to be accepted by everyone, Christ is not for
you. God is calling out a remnant of people //who can say to anyone the
truth /as it is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In today’s Scripture verse, the Apostle Paul prophesied that in the
last days there would be a pseudo-Christianity with people talking
pseudo-talk. Remember that just because someone says, “Jesus,” it
doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the Jesus of the Bible.
* The prefix pseudo is used to mark something that superficially appears to be (or behaves like) one thing,
but is something else.
Paul said that
there would be people //who would have a form of religion, but who would
not know its power.
It’s just “go to church” and live any old way /the
rest of the time. The whole celebrity culture demonstrates that people
today have come to feel that they are the center of the universe; and in
the end, they will turn away from the truth.
The warnings from Scripture are there for us to see
Let’s, therefore,
examine ourselves to see if we “are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
and test everything //that comes from the pulpit /to make sure that it
lines up with the Bible.
Without fear, let’s keep our communion with
Jesus, read the Word, forsake not the gathering of believers, intercede
for others, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. Jesus
said he would. Let’s believe that truth today.
Read 2 Timothy 3:1-9.