2 Timothy 3:1-5 English Standard Version

Godlessness in the Last Days

3 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ² For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

That is a long list of really ugly behavior. Some will do anything not to be seen as having any of those qualities. They will fixate on demonstrating the power. If they do not deny the power, they will have the power and the power becomes everything. If they have the power then they are not found in that list above.

How is that power demonstrated? Some will say you must speak in tongues. If you do not you are not saved. Some fancy the idea of handling poisonous snakes. That is insane but people have done it to prove something to themselves. Reckless is on the list and that is reckless. In some cases they become proud and arrogant in that pursuit and deny their own condition.

So what is this power that they seek but do not understand?

Romans 1:16 English Standard Version

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,

The gospel has the power to save mankind from all those ugly truths about those conditions listed. The gospel is simple, too simple for some who deny its power to change them. Being arrogant some want to add the power to what they are without changing the inner man. That is not power, that is delusion.

Accept the gospel, take it to heart, and then see what the power of God can do to change that heart.

1 Corinthians 13:11 English Standard Version (ESV) When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

The older I get I begin to understand that this passage is related to my new creation in Christ. I had always thought of this as being me in the flesh but I came to the realization that being born again, I became a babe in Christ, no matter what the age.

Maturing in Christ takes on a different aspect of maturity because there is no set boundaries as in the flesh. Bar-mitzvah’d at 13 isn’t part of the Christian maturing process. Age has nothing to do with maturing in Christ. One can be 101 and be a babe in Christ. It is possible that a person in their 20’s is fully matured. The only question left is, what does fully matured look like?

The opening passage indicated speech changes, thinking changes, and reasoning changes.  While those terms are accurate in context, the specifics of change remain vague. Does refraining from vulgar speech mean maturity? One can still be unkind even without cursing. One can be kind without being loving.

Since this passage comes right after the descriptive nature of agape love, is maturity reached when we love as God loves? That is a tall order to fill. It requires our hearts to be right even before our actions can meet any of those characteristics. Failing that, does that mean we have failed to mature?

Part of verse 12 says; “Now I know in part”. We will never know for sure in this lifetime if we have reached a level of maturity which is comparable to our finished product. “Then I shall know fully” is the next line.

Perhaps 1 Corinthians 13:11 is an encouragement to keep striving, as he says, to run the good race. I know I am not there yet, but I haven’t given up hope.