2 Timothy 3 -- Unable To Think Straight

It’s hard to remember as we read these first verses that Paul is talking about people who seem to be religious:  They love themselves; they love money; they brag; they’re proud; they say evil things against others; they don’t obey their parents or act thankful toward them.  They even refuse to be the kind of people God wants.  They won’t love others; they refuse to forgive; they gossip; and they practice no self-control.  They’re cruel and hate what’s good; they turn against their friends.  They do foolish things without thinking.  They’re conceited and love pleasure more than God.

 

The problem, Paul says, is that their thinking has been ruined.  They are fooling themselves.

 

Last night I saw a note I’d written in my Bible in Ephesians 4 that said:  “Lost people don’t think the way we do because they can’t.”  A person of the world would look at Paul’s list and say, “So what??”  That’s because they walk in spiritual and moral callousness.  It takes the grace of a loving God to reach under the callousness to illuminate the fact that they’ve bought into a lie from Satan.  Until that happens, we’re all so sold on the lie that what matters most is our own pleasure and happiness.  We aren’t able to see through our ruined thinking.

 

Father, I was so absolutely wrong-headed and so sure I was right that I know now how absolutely true Your words are here.  I was sincere in my beliefs, but I was sincerely wrong.  That’s how badly Satan can blind us when we ever begin to doubt Your love for us.  Thank You for opening my eyes and for correcting my thinking.  Do so for others I love, too, Father.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford