Living Faithfully in Our Culture

Scripture – 2 Timothy 3:1-5: ¹But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

Observation – (Write down what you see in the scripture.) Wow! These verses seem to point right to our North American culture today. There’s a list of attitudes and behaviors that are evident in people we see and that continue to be temptations for me. I’m particularly struck by vs. 5. In our nation we clearly have developed a “form of godliness” that has no real power. From President Bush on down, our politicians routinely refer to God and prayer as though they are important realities. Yet their behavior reveals nothing of faith-based decision making. My question is, how are we to “have nothing to do with them?”

Application – (Write how you will be different today because of what you have just read.) I will keep looking up personally. And I will keep directing people toward Christ as we live our individual lives in this culture. I will listen for God’s direction in relation to political involvement.

Prayer – (Write out a brief prayer.) Lord, this raises some interesting and unsettling images in my mind. I don’t know how you would have me become more politically involved. I am open to your leading. Give me courage and wisdom to follow whatever you have for me.

An Invitation – If you’re interested in a face to face discussion about what we’ve been discovering in the Mini-Journal, a small group will be meeting tomorrow morning, 9:45 – 10:30am, at the Southgate Fun and Fitness Center (on Northline near I-75). Look for them around one of the tables in the Café area.

Tomorrow’s Reading: Sunday, August 26:

2 Timothy 3:6-9: ⁶They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, ⁷always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. ⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. ⁹But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.