2 Timothy 4:3 (NLT): “The time will come when people will not listen to the truth. They will look for teachers who will tell them only what they want to hear.”
First… Happy Thanksgiving! May we all look above to give thanks to our Creator for His provisions and for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sin.
Now then… a word from Paul’s second letter to Timothy.
I now live in the age of a multitude of sources for information. It hasn’t always been that way. I remember driving from Illinois to Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1992 and finding Rush Limbaugh on the radio for the first time. I am fairly conservative and had never heard anyone speak words on media that I basically had agreement with. I called up Debbie excited that there was someone out there that I could agree with.
Today, the voices I can listen to have grown exponentially. I am now able to listen to media, determine if they agree with me fairly quickly, and then choose to listen or not. You see, I really like it when the people I listen to reinforce my values and my beliefs.
Lately, it seems like everybody is doing it! I’m not alone! There are now so many alternatives through streaming that I can even listen to the news that puts down those with whom I disagree. Wow. How cool is that?
Perhaps it isn’t cool at all. Perhaps I am now limiting my ability to understand the whole truth. It is one thing to do this with the news of the day. It is quite the other thing to pick and choose how I interpret God’s word.
In the above verse, Paul states that it is dangerous to find teachers that simply reinforce what I want to hear. I want to feel good about what I do and how I live. I can now find Bible teachers I agree with on just about anything through the worldwide web. Well, the web can entangle me when I don’t seek the truth in God’s word. God’s word promotes a truth that doesn’t change. In the first century, those who followed Jesus as Lord embraced those truths and didn’t try to change them.
Today, there are so many voices out there, that even when it comes to the Bible, I can simply seek teachers who will just tell me what I want to hear. Knowing this challenges me. I must seek truth in God’s word. I must read. I must study. I must pray for Holy Spirit guidance. Only then, can I know who Jesus is and know His desires for me.
Prayer: Jesus, I want to seek You first and foremost. May I seek Your truth found in Your Word. I am so thankful for You. May today and every day of my life be filled with gratitude.
