Sign of the Apocalypse: Hating what is Good

So says Paul to Timothy in 2 Tim. 3.3. In the last times, writes Paul, difficult days will come. Signs that we are in the last times are: [People] "will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good" (NLT). Whether or not, we as a world community are in the last days I can't say, but we in America certainly seem to fit the bill. In one generation we have gone from loving good and hating evil to hating good and loving evil. It is a remarkable shift, and one often seen in nations that have become morally bankrupt. Funny thing is, we are almost completely blind not to the shift per se because it is evident for all to see. We are blind to how immoral the shift is. We think it is a good shift, a good thing.

Toil in Hope

Thus speaks Paul in 1 Timothy 4.10. The end to which Paul and his companions toiled was the hope that they had in the living God. Admittedly, Paul's life was not easy, it involved toil and struggle (ἀγωνιζόμεθα). He could bear up in the toil and struggle because his hope was fixed, not on earthly reward, or fame, or money; not on retirement in the golden years when he could get a villa on the beach and collect seashells. His hope was eternal. It rested in the living God.

Like Paul, we do not work for retirement. Our end is hope in the living God, it is to this end, that with Paul, we too toil and struggle in the work that God has given us to do. May we endure in the work sustained by hope in the living God.

Primus Ergo Sum

I am first! (Just not in a good way). So says Paul in 1 Timothy 1.15. However, the cool thing that I got out of the verse is how Paul summarizes the gospel in 8 words (in Greek)—Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἁμαρτωλοὺς σῶσαι. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That was his mission. That was his assignment. That is what he accomplished.

Oh...and Paul was first in that he was the chief of sinners, but the Lord had mercy on him.

Christ, Our Hope

Reading in 1 Tim 1.1 this morning where Paul simply describes Christ as our hope. On this beautiful Easter morning, just so. Christ is risen! He is our (only) hope. He who knew no sin, became sin on our behalf. I praise God for the hope we find in Christ.