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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.
They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful.
They will...be puffed up with pride.
Stay away from people like that!
2 Timothy 3:1, 2b, 4c, 5b NLT
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Yesterday, we started a series on bad behaviors that people will display in the last days, the days just before Jesus returns to bring the saved with Him into salvation in Heaven while casting off those who rejected Him into Hell. The earth as we know it will then be utterly destroyed, gone forever.
When we read the scriptures, we know that there will be cataclysmic events happen in the world in the run up to Jesus coming back. No one knows when that will happen but we do know what will take place prior. This message isn’t getting into the sum of those events but rather the sinful conduct that will be seen in people during what Paul labels “very difficult times”.
In the first message, we saw where people will show misplaced love “in the last days”, giving their devotion to themselves or money or pleasure rather than God. We also read where a number of people will choose to not love at all and this will lead to a general attitude of unforgiveness. A life absent of God will produce thus kind of lifestyle.
As we turn to today’s message, the second in this series, we find that people will not only be self centered when it comes to the way they love others. They will also be self-interested in the way they approach life. Look at our verses for today:
You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.
They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful.
They will...be puffed up with pride.
Stay away from people like that! 2 Timothy 3:1, 2b, 4c, 5b NLT
Here we find pride taking center stage as a primary bad behavior during the last days. There will be a genuine, intentional turning away from humility as people will be boastful and even be so misguided and bold that they would disrespectfully scoff at the very God who made and rules over them.
This is the common thread we see so far between these first two messages, the willful turning away from God in life. The God who commands all people to honor their father and mother will be tuned out as people choose to do what they want to do which as we read will include being disobedient to their parents. And with no credence given to the God who provides for a person’s every need, people in the last days will be ungrateful and void of any spirit of thanksgiving.
What a sad state of affairs this will be, a snapshot of what a life dedicated to God would look like.
Unfortunately, I think you will agree that we are seeing these bad behaviors manifested in the way people act today. We aren’t at the last days as yet but we see the birth pains of attitudes that will only expand and grow over the coming years until that day when Jesus comes back.
With this, it’s little wonder that Paul warned Timothy, and the scriptures continue to warn us today, to stay away from people who display these bad behaviors. For the only way to keep these sinful attitudes from spreading is to not be in party with those who adopt them.
Yes, there will be bad behaviors in the last days. The Bible makes this clear but a person has control over the way they act and staying focused fully on the Lord and His ways, no matter what everyone else does, will always be the right approach to remaining in righteousness and away from wickedness.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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