2 Timothy 3
2 Timothy 3:1-17 (NKJV)
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;
9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
10 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance,
11 persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.
12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
While the world increases in its ungodliness and peril for those who would live unto God, the provision of the Word of God and its power to save will never change. Rather than getting caught up in the nonsense that is inevitable from the darkness, there is a place of great refuge and comfort in the Word, that place that has been so faithful through the years. In the middle of what seems to be ever more precarious, there is good to be done that will glorify God and bring salvation to those who are so desperately perishing. The faith required for this work can only come from remaining established in the truth that will never change in the least. Abandoning fear and running to the refuge of faith in the Word is what will bring hope and deliverance through any of the trials that must come.
It is easy to identify with the long description of today’s wickedness that Paul provides from so long ago. But, gratefully we can fail to allow its magnitude to seem greater than our power over it. The mindlessness of evil need not quicken the pulse in the least from fear as we remain steadfast, immovable and founded securely in the Word. There is a reason to be increasingly glad and encouraged as understanding found there makes it so clear that the coming of the Lord is near. The Word will powerfully equip for the timely good to be done in the days that remain. Letting go of all potential anxiety will come with the embrace of God’s truth in its perfect love and strengthening joy. What a provision for victory is ours in the Word and its eternally anchored hope.