WHAT GOD SAYS IS WHAT MATTERS!
WHAT GOD SAYS IS WHAT MATTERS!
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. —II Timothy 3:12-16
Those who really live for Jesus will suffer persecution of various sorts. At the same time evildoers and impostors will increasingly get worse. These people are deceiving and being deceived. Deceptions won’t come from those who do not want anything to do with Jesus, but deceptions will come from those who have a veneer of Christianity. God has warned us of this— “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:28). The intent of these people is to “distort the truth” and they do this to “draw away disciples after themselves” to believe in their distortions.
But, those who know Jesus do not have to be concerned about being deceived as they continue “in what you have learned and have become convinced of.” It is from knowing the “holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” that our confidence in knowing the truth comes from. There is safety in living according to what God says from His Word, getting direction from Him and checking what others say by what He says. The darkness of man that appears to be light will be exposed by the Light of God’s Word. God will expose the motives of every man’s heart (I Corinthians 4:5).
It is clear that God gave us His Word for:
*teaching- there is much to learn from what He has to say and to impart this to others.
*rebuking- what He has to say exposes error in our lives.
*correction- He shows us what is right.
*training in righteousness- He shows us how to live according to His desires.
*so the servant of God is equipped for every good work— His Word prepares us to be servants and to be about the work that He has prepared for us to do.
God has given us all we need to live for Him. He has given us His Son. He has given us His Word. He has given us His Spirit. Now out of gratitude and love for Him we are to lovingly obey Him and grow in our relationship with Him. How thankful we should be!
Dear Father, I am grateful for Who You are and what You are doing in Your creation. Please help me to run the race faithfully that You have marked out for me. May this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkunT7BYCqw