Red cups didn't make this Christian frustrated. But the way the baristas were being treated did. This morning I was in line at Starbucks. The Saturday morning rush was in full swing. The drive-thru was packed, so I parked and went inside. With only one woman in line in front of me, I thought I chose well. But she had an issue with her order that required two, sometimes three, employees' attention. Great. A royal toot. Trying to pay with her phone app. Needing a refund. Trying to reload her card. There was a lot going on. By now, our line had grown to five or six waiting customers. When it was all said and done another barista came to our rescue and started taking orders at another register. When I was leaving, the woman was leaving at the same time. As we walked towards the row of parked cars I saw one next to mine with Christian bumper stickers and one for a local church. "Oh no. That's going to be her car." Sure enough. The royal toot was labelled "Christian." Maybe if I was older, wiser, and cared a little less what people thought of me I might have said, "Hey, I see you have a sticker for such-and-such church. Are you a Christian?" And then maybe told her as a sister I thought she'd been a toot back there. As I drove away I realized in my spirit I'd been a little toot-ish in response, too. Thinking things like, "Ugh. It's starting to rain." "This is taking for-ever." "Does the world revolve around you, lady?" as I chose to be super sweet to the barista taking my order and a little "holier than thou" towards my fellow customer. 2 Timothy 3 gives us a good look at the characteristics of the fakers, the mimickers, and those with a knowledge of the truth. Paul warns Timothy that there will be those who are lovers of self, money, and pleasure rather than lovers of God. These lovers will have the appearance of godliness (vs. 5) but are actually disqualified regarding the faith. The fruits of these false lovers are: Proud feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closely associated Arrogant having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities Abusive extremely offensive and insulting Disobedient to Parents refusing to obey rules or someone in authority Ungrateful not feeling or showing gratitude Unholy sinful, wicked Heartless displaying a complete lack of feeling or consideration Unappeasable not able to be pacified, placated (to make someone less angry or hostile), or satisfied Slanderous (of a spoken statement) false and malicious Without Self-Control the ability to control oneself, in particular one's emotions and desires or the expression of them in one's behavior, especially in difficult situations Brutal savagely violent, direct and lacking any attempt to disguise unpleasantness Not Loving Good feeling or showing love or great care Treacherous guilty of or involving betrayal or deception Reckless (of a person or their actions) without thinking or caring about the consequence of an action Swollen with Conceit excessive pride in oneself In verse 8 he compares these people to Jannes and Jambres who opposed Moses. These two were believed to be the court magicians in Egypt mentioned in Exodus 7. God told Moses and Aaron that Pharaoh would have a hard heart and wouldn't listen to their message. But that this was so "I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD..." So 80-year-old Moses and 83-year-old Aaron went to Pharaoh. Pharaoh basically said prove you're from God and asked for a miracle. So Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his men, and it turned into a serpent. So Pharaoh called in his guys. The magicians, Jannes and Jambres, who were able to do that same trick (Exodus 7:11) "by their secret arts." Mimickers. Those who Paul warns Timothy are "always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7) that would be able to make them (Tim. 3:15) "wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." The heart cannot love what the mind does not know. The story of Moses and Aaron takes a turn in Exodus 7:12 "For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said." Only the love of God can swallow up the love of self, money, and pleasure. Sometimes my affections get wonky. I get prideful, ungrateful. So I press in further. Knowing that the Scriptures are profitable for teaching me, for correcting me, for training me. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. Those who oppose the truth are "corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith." But we don't have to worry about it. Timothy was told in verse 5 to "avoid such people," to expect persecution, and in verse 14 to "continue in what you have learned and firmly believed."
Just like vs. 9 says, "But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men."
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KennanI'm a lover of words. Sometimes I edit, cook, craft, or sing. I'm also a wife and mom. Categories
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