Walking Dead or Alive?
2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Can you see the last days playing out before us. When I watch the news I see robberies, shootings, reality shows that highlight disrespectful children, disrespect for the things of God and all other sorts of craziness. I have come to expect that in these last days. The part of this verse that bothers me is the part that says one sign of the last days is, “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power.”
Whoa!!! I’m struggling with this. This verse is putting people on blast. It is calling out the people who do what they like, what feels good, what is pleasurable to them at the expense of following God’s command. They know God’s command, but deny its power by falling victim to a system that says live to please yourself.
So, the Bible is telling us that those who know godliness but choose otherwise are the very people that we are to avoid. We need to avoid becoming a form. A shell. A zombie. The walking dead!
So, tonight I pray. Lord, don’t ever let me be a shell. Don’t ever let me be a person that has become content with what the outside world thinks. Let me with the inside. I don’t want to be hollow – I want to be filled with Your Spirit. Without Your Spirit – there is no power and no life. Let me love your pleasure more than my own. Let me pay attention to the conviction that Your Spirit brings. Let me grab hold of you with both hands and beg you to never ever take Your presence away from me. Keep me alive in Your presence.
I don’t want to be a form without power, imitating a good time by serving my own pleasures. Lord my prayer is that I will love what you love and that I will push away what pushes You away. I pray that my desire will always be to please you. I want to live in Your will and walk in the abundant life You have for me!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
