INSIGHT FOR TODAY WITH CHUCK SWINDOLL.
Chuck Swindoll’s ‘Insight for Today’ Daily Devotional is here. Insight for Today provides practical, relevant insight into today’s issues with Biblical principles applied. This devotional will help you connect with God on a daily basis, while also equipping you with a Bible-based approach to transforming your everyday life. Insight for Today” is a daily devotional written by Chuck Swindoll.
The Topic of Chuck Swindoll Daily Devotional 17 Th February 2023 Is “A Critical Appraisal of Our Times”.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1–13
The Dangers of the Last Days
1. You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.
2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.
3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.
4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.
5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
6 They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of* vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires.
7 (Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.)
8 These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith.
9 But they won’t get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as with Jannes and Jambres.
Paul’s Charge to Timothy
10 But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance.
11 You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra—but the Lord rescued me from all of it.
12 Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
13 But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.
TODAY’S INSIGHT – 17TH FEBRUARY 2023.
Need a picture of just how hopeless and empty society really is? Just glance over 2 Timothy 3. Within the first thirteen verses, I find three undeniable descriptions of our world: difficult, depraved, and deceived.
The first verse refers to our times as “difficult.” One version renders the word perilous (KJV). Another translates it terrible (NIV). The Greek root word means “grievous, harsh, fierce, savage.” It is used only one other time in the New Testament. In Matthew 8:28, it appears when the writer describes two men with demons as being “extremely violent.” What an apt description of our world! Savage, harsh, violent. If you question that, if you need proof that that is no exaggeration, check this morning’s news on the Web or listen to the evening news. Both will convince you our “village” is in desperate straits.
Further in the passage, we read of two men from the days of Moses as representatives of people in these “difficult” times. “Depraved” is the word to describe them (2 Timothy 3:8). It means humanity is as bad off spiritually as it can possibly be. Dead toward God. Unmoved by anything spiritual. Hard-hearted and dark within. Depravity is a universal disease in society. And we are reaping what we have sowed.
Now let’s look at the third descriptive term. It will not surprise you to read these words: “But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (3:13). The last word is the one to notice: “deceived.”
Remember yesterday’s post, titled “Keeper of the Spring,” and the necessity to keep the village spring clean? Today’s “village” is a place where impostors flourish. Rip-off experts flood every profession. Religious charlatans are here as well. Many politicians speak smoothly from both sides of their mouths. No one can deny the phony-baloney facade of ads and fads. And Scripture is right; society proceeds “from bad to worse.” Remove “the spring” of life from the village—take away the salt and the light—and within a brief time, “the village” becomes a diseased cesspool of contamination.
Technically, there can be only one “keeper of the spring”: Jesus Christ, the Lord. But we, His servants, His representative ambassadors, have been commissioned to carry on until His return. We, His servants, are assigned to the task. But how can the job be done? We’ll talk about that in the posts to come.
About Chuck Swindoll Daily Devotional “Today’s Insight”.
Today’s Insight is written by Chucks Swindoll. Chuck Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word and His grace. Since 1988 he has served as the founder and senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church in Texas, but his listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. The radio broadcast of this devotional program has aired for more than 35 years. Read more.
Thank you for reading. This Devotional was shared via www.thedevotionals.com.ng
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