Today’s devotion is
taken from 2 Timothy 3:1-9
Warning against
godliness appearance and empty religion.
The above passage tells
us that in the last days to come, expect evil and therefore, we should guard
our hearts against opposers of the faith as described in verses 2-5. The list
of ungodly characters are so real even today people are lovers of themselves, money,
fame and so on and Paul says that they have the appearance of godliness but
denies the power of God. Paul was talking about people who externally showed
they are ‘Godly’ but their inner life shows otherwise. They may attend Church
services and claim to be a Christian, but lack the inner transformation by the
power of the Holy Spirit. They claim to know God but their lives do not show
any fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
Paul also warned to be wary of false
teachers that oppose the truth and are “of depraved mind, rejected in regard to
the faith”. In the passage, he pointed out the
time when Jannes and Jambres, two Egyptian magicians, opposed Moses before
Pharoah (See Exodus 7:11, 12, 22). In the eyes of men, the magicians
appeared to be able to work real miracles – BUT if we look closely, they were
working by the power of darkness and not the power of God. When Moses cast down
his rod and it turned into a serpent, the magicians could do the same. They
could also do the same when Moses turned water into blood and brought forth
plague of frogs. (8:7) However, in the end, they could not match God
miracle-for-miracle, and their ‘powers’ were shown to be inferior to God’s
power. (8:19) With this, we should not be easily deceived and always be wary of
what is from God, and what is not.
Paul made a very good point about learning the Word of
God in verse 7. He warned against the attitude of “always learning but never able
to come to the knowledge of truth” and these are the people who are easily
swayed by all kinds of evil. What this means is, learning the Word on a surface
level is not sufficient. Let’s not forget that Satan too, knows and memorizes
the Scripture. But he uses it deceitfully. For example, Satan used God’s Word
when he confronted Jesus in the wilderness (see Matthew 4:1-11). In the process
of trying to tempt Jesus to sin and thereby cause Him to fail as Messiah and
Redeemer, Satan quoted Psalm 91:11-12 saying, “If you are the Son of God, jump
off! For the Scripture say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you and they
will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.”
So how do we avoid the Godliness that Paul is warning of?
We must not become Christians by name only. James says “Do not merely listen to the Word, and
so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Learning the Word of God is not
sufficient, we must let the Word of God take root in our life and bear good
fruits. So let us reflect on the following points:
1) We should
connect and be in a true relationship with God on a personal level;
2) Ask for the Holy Spirit to come into your life and
reveal to you what the truth is and transform our lives; and
3) meditate on the Word daily and apply it in our daily
life.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank you for the shedding Truth and
Light into our lives. As we live our lives daily, continue to shine your Light
on us and reveal to us what is from You, so that we may not be easily deceived.
We pray to be disciplined in learning your Word, not on a surface level, but
with a deep understanding of Your heart and Truth.