[Wednesday's Devotional] - Corruption

Here is what I want you to know.  There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will love themselves.  They will love money.  They will brag and be proud.  They will tear others down.  They will not obey their parents.  They won’t be thankful or holy.   They won’t love others.  They won’t forgive others.  They will tell lies about people.  They will be out of control.  They will be wild.  They will hate what is good.  They will turn against their friends.  They will act without thinking. They will think they are better than others. They will love what pleases them instead of loving God.  They will act as if they were serving God. But what they do will show that they have turned their backs on God’s power. Have nothing to do with those people.  2 Timothy 3: 1-5 [NIRV]

We are living in terrible times - can you see a resemblance in the description above to our world today?  Our world is like the biblical description of Babylon - we give the impression of progress and civilisation, but our world is morally and spiritually corrupt.   Christians today inhabit a "foreign country" where we are living in a culture that is alien to the will and teaching of God.  Sadly, sometimes we are so well integrated in this "foreign country" that we are barely distinguishable from the natives!  Are you immune to the culture shock we should be feeling living under the ruler of this earth?

Some people are losing sight of the important aspects of life - perhaps seeing the church as a public institution which must conform to the values of the day and not the eternal values of Heaven.  Our world is obsessed with standards of perfection, beautification and the continuous improvement  of efficiency.  Our critical spirit can become tainted by the world's standards of consumerism and secular thinking.  But we are not secular beings - we are a royal priesthood.  Remember how the people complained bitterly of their wandering in the desert.  How quickly they forgot the terrible conditions they left behind - and how quickly they magnified their moans and complaints about life.  We must resist doing the same, and remember the blessings God is continually bestowing on us.

Lord, help us to avoid being corrupted by the world around us - keep us true to your word and the values you have shown us, through Jesus example.  Amen 

Dave MacLellan