Today's Reading:O.T. - 2 Chronicles 13 - 16
N.T. - 2 Timothy 4
Focus Verses: 2 Tim. 4:3-5
3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
Insight:
There is always someone ready to people whatever it is they want to hear. What is actually true is often inconvenient and, therefore, not what people want to hear. Truth is swept aside in favor of something less demanding and easier to accept. Truth is frequently rejected and replaced with comfortable myths and self-serving lies.
Response and Action:
I need to commit myself to seeking out truth. The truth may be more difficult and demanding than I want it to be. I need to look beyond myself to find truth. I must be prepared to make changes and get out of my comfort zone if I really want to know and live the truth. I need to be careful about surrounding myself with people who tell me what I want to hear. I need to be discerning and think critically about the things I read and hear. I need to examine my motives and my desires to ensure my beliefs are not being distorted by my own selfish perspectives. I need to fill my heart and mind with the truth of Scripture so it will guide me in my thinking and discerning.
Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and lead me, for you are God my savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Help me to seek the truth and surrender to it, that it might shape me and guide me. Save me from the self-deception that distorts and diminishes truth to make it fit personal comfort and convenience. Help me to know the truth, and grant me the freedom it gives. Amen.
Proverbs: 17:24
"A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth."
Resources:
True Truth: Defending Absolute Truth in a Relativistic World
by Art Lindsley
