Love Misdirected

2 Timothy 3:1–5 (ESV) 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.

Four of the 19 qualities Paul lists concerning the difficult times of the last days contain the word "Love."  I've never seen it before, but looking at our world today, this totally makes sense.

Today it is no longer "God is love."  Today people live as though "Love is God."  Love will make everything better, love will solve your loneliness, love will never make you feel bad about something you do, love is something you cannot help and cannot control... ie. you can't help who you love.  Love is about what I can get from someone to make me feel good about myself.  

It is LOVE misdirected.
"Lovers of self.... of money... not loving good, loving pleasure, not loving God."  The word for "not loving good" in Greek is one word, it can be translated, "without interest in the public good."  That opens it up for us!  It's talking about a person who doesn't care about the general good of people, but is solely concerned with what good is in this for me?  So then, notice, love misdirected is loved aimed at me.  What makes me feel good, live better, and have more.  

And Paul's warning to Timothy - avoid them.  

Wow. 

A Pastor's time is valuable.  Jesus said, "Do not give what is sacred to dogs."  That is good advice.  In a day in which we are connected to so many people though social media and blogs and forums where anyone behind a computer keyboard can boldly and oftentimes rudely pronounce judgment on someone or something, we are susceptible to the "Facebook" or "Twitter" debate.  We forget the Lord's command and Paul's advice to Timothy. 

Watch your time and attention.  Who are you paying too much attention to?  Are they simply living for their own purpose and pleasure?  Don't give them an ounce.  They aren't worth it, they aren't your mission.  Look for the people who God is speaking to in life and minister to them.  They are there.  

We just can't see them through the narcissistic crowd sometimes.

PRAYER:
Father, help me see who you see.  Help me have an eye for the ones you are are speaking to today.  I want to listen to Jesus and Paul.  I want to give my attention to the ones you want me to.  Help me know the difference.  In Jesus' name.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God’s View of You

Sometimes I think we imagine that God is mostly disappointed with us. That He puts up with us and bears with us because He has to (after all He is love), but most of the time our glaring weaknesses weary Him and make His day miserable. Of course, this is the devil’s doing in our minds. The truth of scripture bears out that the world has to get staunch-raving evil before God is totally weary of us. And the stories in the Old Testament remind us with each passing character that God is patient, loving and kind to His very flawed inconsistent servants. Saul is a case study of this. His lineage will not hold the kingdom, that has already been stated from the mishap of offering the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive in 1 Samuel 13. His next great gaff will happen in the chapter to come in 1 Samuel 15 where his own kingship will be taken from him and the anointing placed on one soon to come. Yes, God will regret making Saul king and we’ll talk about that next. But for now...
Read more

How to Pray for Someone's Downfall

Psalm 83 reminds us that enemies of God's people always abound. The opening verses mention 10 nations gathered around Israel to attack and destory them. These are their enemies. Child of God, we will always have enemies... 1 John 3:13 (ESV)   Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. The world throughout history has hated this ancient family of the Jews. God's chosen people have been the rejected ones in society down through the ages, from Egypt to Nazi Germany. Yet God's blessing has been upon them to this day. For Christians it will be no different. Men will hate us. Yet we are to regard this  as blessing! Luke 6:22–23 (ESV) “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. The Psalmist readily acknowledges the adversary. He then ...
Read more

Leaders Who Later Fail

Remember Johanan from Jeremiah 41? The man who saved many others from the threats of the murderous coup? He seemed like a noble leader. But time reveals a lot.  Jeremiah 42:5–6 (ESV)  Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.” These are the words of the presumptive leaders of Israel in the land while the nation is in exile. The previous chapter saw a hero arise to protect a few remaining survivors. His name was Johanan. On the surface, he seems like a good man, seeking the will of the Lord in his leadership position. Jeremiah returns with directives from the Lord: Jeremiah 42:10 (ESV) If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant y...
Read more