“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
Don’t expect that loving God means you will face an easy life!
“There will come times of difficulty.”It’s a fact of life, isn’t it? There are good times and bad times in everybody’s life. We are fallen beings living in fallen bodies in a fallen world, surrounded by other fallen people. And according to this passage, that is only going to get worse as we move towards the “last days”.
God allows us to experience the fallenness of life, just like everyone else. It is in our spiritual response to the difficulties of life that God is most glorified.
What is God saying to you through this passage today? If you are experiencing dark times, don’t think it is unusual or that God has abandoned you. God wants you to know that until you go to be with him, you will have the stress of life in a fallen world. The difference is that God walks through that experience with you, transforming both you and those you touch.
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