2 TIMOTHY 3:1-4 – “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”
THEME OF THE DAY: THE DEATH OF A NATION. Our nation is experiencing its death. That is not hype. It is not doomsday thinking. It is a reality that any sensitive and spiritually minded Christian may see daily. What the Apostle Paul wrote in the opening chapter of his theological masterpiece, the letter to the Roman Christians is coming true before our very eyes . . .
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:24-28).
Three times the Apostle writes that God gave them up, which says He left them to their sin to fulfill their sin and suffer the consequences of their sin. The third and final time He gave them up, results in no hope of recovery. He gave them over to a debased mind or a reprobate mind, and when the mind is lost or so corrupt, there is no repentance which means no turning to God. And what happens after that? Today’s scripture.
As a nation dies, three prevalent attitudes and lifestyles consume people – a self-centered life where selfishness reigns and all of life revolves around an individual’s personal goals, desires, pursuits, and investments. The DNA of sin, selfishness, controls the person. Then the love of money, even an obsession with it and material things occurs. People become stingy, miserly, and rarely, if at all, sacrifice materially for the needs of others. How many Christians even hoard money and possessions and do not liberally, consistently, and sacrificially give to others in need and the work of the Gospel? Finally, the attitude of a dying nation is displayed by an over-the-top pursuit of pleasure, comfort, and a life of ease. People live for the “easy life” and that is not a Christ-centered life.
The alarming truth about the death of a nation and the evidence in the last paragraph is this may happen to Christians and churches. The result? We lose our salt and light in a dying nation. We may easily become like the world – selfish, materialistic, and seek a life of much comfort, few inconveniences. We may find ourselves like the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) or the church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22).
So, what do we do as believers living in a dying nation? We pray for a great awakening from the Lord. We pray for revival, and we repent from the sins which cool our affections for Christ. Then, we recover our mission in the world – being living testimonies of the grace of God in Christ Jesus and proclaim His gospel to hopeless sinners living in a dying and hopeless world.
PRAYER: Father, protect my heart from the constant barrage from the world to pull my heart from You.
REFLECTION: We must guard against a world gone mad over materialism, selfishness, and pleasure.