2 Timothy 3: 1-9
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people...."
It really is not easy to live a sanctified life according to biblical principles in this generation. However, when is it ever easy for the Christians? The times of Paul were not that different from ours, it was in fact almost the same. If the biblical principles were applicable during those times, then it must be applicable for this generation. Do not think that only the Christians are really suffering, are the non-believers not suffering at all? Although living according the biblical principles is difficult, will it be better off to live not according to the biblical principles? In fact many seeker friends tell me that they admire the Christians, even when they are in difficult circumstances, they still have peace, joy and contentment in their hearts.
The reason why the world is full of suffering is not because you are Christians; rather the world itself has a problem. No matter believing or not believing, suffering is inevitable when living in the world. The problem is people's sin, not the sin of murder and arson; it's the sin of the people's heart. Paul listed at least eighteen types of sins of the heart, with the word "love" appearing four times in the original text, showing us the core of this sin: "lovers of ourselves, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure, but not lovers of God."
We have to face God, people and things every day; God is the object of our worship, people is the object we love, money and things are the objects we use. If they are in the wrong orders, our lives will naturally become a mess. Many people living in this world who worship their own selves and their love is money and leisure, with the result people become the objects that they use. There may be some temporary pleasures in the beginning, but ultimately their follies will be exposed to the world. Brothers and sisters, do not envy the world's value system and ways of life, ask the Lord to help us in a world poles apart from the biblical principles that we remain in the truth of Lord.
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