Year 2, Day 329: 2 Timothy 3

The Human Condition

Paul says that human beings are lovers of themselves.  In other words, the self-monger.  Human beings are naturally more interested in what is going on in our own life than what we can do for others.  We are born expecting other people to feed us, change us, and all around care for our needs.  Most of childhood and teenager life is spent at least wanting the people around us to appease our needs.  If we learn those behaviors in our youth, how can we expect anything different in adulthood?

That’s the bad news.  The good news is that we can be different.  But it’s a ton of work.  We need God’s help because it’s just not natural.  We have to work to be anything except the self-monger because we naturally are the self-monger.

Speaking of the self-monger, what about the attributes to come in Paul’s list?  Lover’s of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and unholy.  Just how many of these attributes can be connected to our inner self-monger.  We are inherently greedy because we want to satisfy our own desires.  We are proud because we focus on our own gifts and successes.  We are abusive because we care about getting our way and often don’t care about how our approach to life hurts others.  We are disobedient because we simply want our own way.  We are ungrateful because the more we focus on ourselves the more we adopt an entitlement perspective.  We are unholy because we’d rather focus on ourselves than focus on God.  The heart of this list continues to be ourselves.

We don’t love other people.  We resist being reconciled to one another.   We slander.  We lack self-control.  We are untamed.  We betray one another.  We are reckless.  We love pleasure.  We are not inherently lovers of God.  We have all the appearance of power but none of it is real.  Again, look at this list.  How many of these concepts come simply because we care more about ourselves than anyone else?  I hate that the opening of this blog post has been such a downer, but is it not true?  Human beings left to their own nature – and apart from the influence of the Holy Spirit – are self-centered little creatures.

Paul’s Advice For Dealing With It

And then Paul gives Timothy a pretty interesting piece of advice: avoid such people.  The reason that this is interesting is because if read incorrectly it can lead us down a horribly wrong path.  We can hear such advice and think that Paul is telling Timothy to avoid contact with sinful people.  That isn’t really what Paul is saying here. 

For the record, remember that Jesus Himself says that He came for the sick, for it is the “sick” who need a doctor, not the ones who are well.  In this light, what Paul is telling Timothy is to avoid being influenced by such people.  All people need to know God’s love.  But nobody needs to be influenced by external sin.  We have a hard enough time keeping up with the sin within!  Paul isn’t telling Timothy to avoid being around sinful people, Paul is telling Timothy to avoid being around people who are proud to be that way and who are not interesting in resisting their inner sinful nature.

Exhortation Follows Honesty

To turn this blog around and give us something positive, notice that after giving a warning to Timothy Paul then turns to exhorting him.  Yes, Paul wants to make sure that Timothy hears the important lesson before then turning and praising him.  But the reality is that Timothy is doing well.  He has been leading the church in Ephesus and he has come across some strong personalities.  False teachers have come into his midst.  Timothy has stayed faithful.  He has needed encouragement along the way, but he has remained a bastion of true faith within the community.

God-Breathed

At the end of this chapter Paul talks about God’s Word.  First, notice that Paul says that God’s Word is breathed out by God.  Literally, this is why we call the Bible God’s Word.  It is literally breathed out by God.  Sure, human hands may have put pen to paper.  However, without the inspiration of God through the Holy Spirit at work within those authors the Bible would simply be just another collection of human wisdom.  The Bible contains the timeless wisdom that it does because it comes from the mouth of God.

But Paul doesn’t stop there.  Paul continues by saying that it has a purpose: equipping the saints for every perfect work.  Remember one of the major themes about which Paul has spoken in these letters.  We are to be disciple-makers.  We are to make disciples who can make more disciples.  So what is Paul saying here?  God’s Word is a necessary tool in that process.  It is God’s Word that equips us for God’s work.  If we want to make disciples, we must become familiar with the tool that God has given us.  We must not underestimate God’s Word.

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