You should know this, Timothy,
that in the last days there will be very difficult times.
For people will love only themselves and their money.
They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God,
disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful.
They will consider nothing sacred.
(2 Timothy 3:1–2)
Our culture does all it can to think for us and to squeeze us into its mould. If we watch enough television, our senses are dulled and we become just that stupid. We become passive and disconnected. Our ability to think shrivels. Clear, courageous thinking is now a rarity.
Please hear me! You must continue to absorb the Word of God as you cultivate your mind and form your convictions. What must the church realise? In the words of Paul: “Don’t be naive!” Refuse to live in an overly optimistic dream world of make-believe fantasy.
We read Peter’s words earlier: “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert” (1 Peter 5:8 NASB). Don’t think that if you lie low and stay quiet the storm will quickly pass. The Word of God urges us to wake up. Facing reality is how we can survive! The war is real.
The apostle Paul’s strong warning is followed by an explanatory statement: “In the last days difficult times will come” (2 Timothy 3:1 NASB). Don’t misunderstand. The “last days” don’t refer to some far-future, prophetic era. Paul isn’t holding his breath until a day yet future. He isn’t sitting on a rooftop watching clouds form and waiting for a sign from God. These troubles have existed from the time Christ came, lived, died, arose, and ascended . . . to the present. We are in the “last days.” Truth be told, we have been since the coming of Christ. The church needs to realise that difficult times will only intensify as we anticipate Christ’s return. John R. W. Stott’s summary says it well:
First, we are living in the last days, he says; Christ brought them with Him when He came. Secondly, these days will include seasons of peril and stress. Thirdly, they will be the result of the activities of bad men [and women]. Fourthly, we are to understand this, to be quite clear about it, and so to be prepared.1
Endnote
1. John R. W. Stott, Guard the Gospel: The Message of 2 Timothy (Downers Grove, ILL: InterVarsity Press, 1974), 83.
Taken from The Church Awakening by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2010 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Faith Words, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
