Day 2616 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

2 Timothy 3:5 NIV

What I can't seem to comprehend is this new religious movement that is completely willing and happy to completely overlook what we discussed yesterday. We each have the responsibility to build each other up in Christ and refuse to let anything worldly, anything evil, anything distractive take root and grow into even more sin than each of us already have to deal with in our lives. But sadly, that responsibility is being allowed to take a back seat to the itching ears, prideful arrogance, selfish confusion, and overall deplorable condition of the lost souls in our world.

People are taking the idea of faith and spinning it into some method of gaining popularity and praise by convincing people that living to serve themselves rather than our Heavenly Father is just fine. They're convincing people to put themselves first and let everyone else worry about themselves. This entire me-first way of thinking has invaded the church, and rather than nipping it in the bud, it has been allowed to grow into a new and exciting form of religion that is leading people away from God.

What's really unfortunate, well, even worse than that, what's really dangerous is that so many have chosen to use the idea of faith as some performance. We've gone from men of God sharing the sacrament to men of God preaching a sermon, and now we've gone to just some people putting on a show. And in the midst of the unravelling of what pure religion ought to be, we seem to be okay with the fact that people are falling through the cracks. People seem to be okay with allowing those around them to continue living worldly lives with worldly aspirations built on worldly ideals that chase worldly gain.

But that isn't at all what Scripture tells us to do. In fact, it's the complete opposite!

What we're supposed to do is what we talked about yesterday. Denying ourselves and putting others first. Working together to help one another grow in the right direction so that we all benefit from an increased faith in Christ and a stronger relationship with Him. But instead, the show is becoming more important. The need to please people is of bigger concern than the need to help people cut through the deception and realize that sin truly is death.

It's growing harder and harder to find people who are truly out for the best in those around them. There's far too much people-pleasing and sin-catering going on these days. But, that comes as absolutely no surprise. The first few verses of Chapter 3 in 2 Timothy outline the characteristics of how people will live in the final days. And friends, every single one of them is happening as we speak. Every single one of them is gaining ground quicker than we even realize. Every single one of them is widely approved, accepted, and celebrated in our modern society.

But it has no room in faith. The people who are “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” are the majority in this place. And if we’re not careful, if we don’t fix what we’re doing wrong, if we don’t rid ourselves of the worldly ways that we’ve long cherished, then we too will find ourselves becoming more in line with that group than with the Savior we’re called to follow.

That’s why it's time that we cut the nonsense, stop trying to please people, quit accommodating the filth in our world, and "have nothing to do with such people." Have nothing to do with the ones who claim to serve Christ with their mouths yet are obviously not living according to His calling. Have nothing to do with those who are simply putting on a show to make themselves feel better or look more important. Have nothing to do with those who are selfishly willing to lead people straight to hell along a pathway that’s paved with intentions to make folks comfortable the whole ride there.

Religion cannot save us. A performance cannot save us. A show put on to make people think more highly of us cannot save us. A false “faith” that’s built upon worldly cravings cannot save us. It can comfort us. It can make us feel like we’re doing something right. It can placate us with promises of salvation that in truth require absolutely nothing from us. It can make us think that we’re serving Christ because worldly religion has taken His name, used it in vain, and is marketing it as some kind of “come as you are, feel free to stay there, you’re loved no matter how little you try, you never have to change because He understands that we’ll never be perfect, but it’s okay because He loves us, and His love is willing to abide by our desire to remain unchanged, unrepented, and unaware at just how wrong we truly are” nonsense.

Salvation is found only in the name of Christ. Only complete surrender of our lives to His will. Only the gift of the cross. Only a humble realization of how broken we are and how badly we need the healing that only God can bring. Only the painful realization that we’ve lived every day of our lives according to the ways of a fallen world rather than striving to please our Father in Heaven. Staying as we’ve been will not work. And putting on some performance where we say all the right things but don’t have actions that match those words only keeps us where we are while believing this lie that we’re doing something different.

Please stop settling for being entertained. Stop settling for a show that's only put on to gain worldly praise and social acclaim. Stop believing lies because lies only pull us in the wrong direction. Friends, we owe it to one another to just do what Christ calls us to do. We have to strip back to the basics of loving Him, loving others, and ridding our lives of everything that keeps us from doing either. Anything else is just death. Anything that makes room for the world is death. Anything that allows us to remain unchanged by the blood of Christ is the work of the devil designed to keep us lost in this illusion of salvation yet never coming close to actually accepting Christ into our hearts and letting go of everything that’s kept us apart from Him all this time.

Friends, the world is filling up with falsehood. It is infecting every area of our society. People know the words, they claim the titles, they say things that sound kind of right, but their hearts aren’t set on following Christ. We have His word in Scripture to help us weave our way through the lies and deception. We have His warning that all of this will continue to unfold and unravel. We have to flee from everything that doesn’t lead us closer to Him because if it doesn’t lead to Him, it leads away and that’s something we simply cannot accept into our lives.

It’s better to walk alone than to walk the wrong path surrounded with people who don’t love you enough to tell you where you’re going.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold