Christian Living

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Looking into the Scriptures, we hope to find comfort and instruction. We do. We always do, but sometimes what we read presents a concern to us. The Scriptures are full of warnings, as well as comforts, and wisdom, and instructions.

One of those passages I find this morning in II Thessalonians; the 2nd chapter begins with Paul saying that he wants to inform us about the second coming of Jesus so that we will not be troubled or uneasy concerning the day of the Lord.

In verse 3, he says, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

He then continues to describe the actions of the “son of perdition,” and the effect all this will have on those persons that do not love the truth.

That part is the part of which I feel concerned as I read today, “Those who do not love the truth.” Our focus needs to be on, “Those that do not love the truth,” more than on the “son of perdition.”

The situation of the “Son of Perdition” is what it is, and we simply witness those events when they occur.

“Those who do not love the truth,” is a focal point about which we might well be concerned and is a point to discuss. “Except there come a falling away first,” that is a concern we each must have about ourselves in the evaluation of whether we do or do not love the truth.

How may I discern if I continue to love the truth? This is very important because Paul goes into some detail about what will happen to those who fall away and those who refuse the truth.

There is a penalty, from the hand of God, for refusing and/or turning from the truth. Yes, I said from the hand of God.

This is a serious and terrifying thought, but it is what the Bible presents throughout its pages. I know there are those who refuse to believe that God is anything other than the Christmas God. One Who gives gifts profusely and wouldn’t harm a flea.

God is in fact a good God and He is the Giver of all things good, so says the Bible, but the same Bible says that He is violent in His hatred of sin.

Here is what Paul wrote in the same chapter 2 of II Thessalonians: “And for this cause, (that they turned from the truth,) “For this cause God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie: that they might all be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

The question for us to ask ourselves in seriousness is, “Do I love and follow the truth?” Do I? Do I live my life as the Scriptures tell me to in respect to those things of which God approves?

If I am excusing myself and tweaking the truth so that I may do something of which I know God disapproves, if I am, then I am on very thin ice. How will I know if I have been one who will receive a strong delusion from God for my destruction because I did not accept the truth?

I know that we all sin in our daily life and we are instructed to keep a short account when it comes to the column of “sins committed” and the column named “sins confessed.”

God is not telling us, through Paul, that if we do any thing wrong we are sure to die. No. What the texts makes very clear is that Paul is speaking of those who embrace and love and practice those things about which God has said He does not approve, and because His Truth, Jesus, is refused by them.

Those are the people that God will send a strong delusion upon that they should believe a lie and follow the wrong path and thereby be damned; (v 9) “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.” Because, (v 8) they did not know God and did not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The question is still, “Am I being obedient to God’s Word to me, or am I walking outside the borders of righteousness?”

“Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that is what he will reap.”

I can not sow a bean seed and grow a corn stalk.

I cannot sow into my life unrighteous choices and living styles and produce the works of the Spirit and a righteous God approved life.

There are laws that govern this entire universe and this is one law that rules as well, “Whatsoever a man sows, that he shall also reap.”

It is the eternal and irreversible nature of the choices that we make each day that should really concern us, and not such questions as, “who is the antichrist?”

Let us keep it closer to home, that is what we all should be doing.

The real question for you and for me is, “Am I living a righteous life according to the Truth?”

Ramona 11/18/2010

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