October 25, 2024 -Be Different

JEREMIAH 48:1-49:22

2 TIMOTHY 4:1-22

PSALM 95:1-96:13

PROVERBS 26:9-12

One Year Bible Audio & Daily Reading (oneyearbibleonline.com)

2Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Not only will followers of Christ suffer persecution but there will be those who present themselves as Christian leaders who do not hold to the truth. They allow the personal opinions and desires of the world to influence how they live their lives and what they teach. They will approve of the false beliefs because they would rather please those they are speaking to. Instead of pleasing God who has spoken. Timothy has been called to be an evangelist, preacher and teacher and Paul is encouraging him to stay true to what he has been taught and to continue to teach and preach truth as he has been called to do. Even if your gift is not evangelism we can still learn from this and apply it to our lives. This world is full of teachers and preacher who would excuse the ungodly doctrines that the world would want everyone to live by. It is our responsibility to test what a teacher/preacher is saying against the word of God. The only way we can do that is to know the word of God. Reading the entire bible may seem daunting but we can't know what it says if we do not read it. And as someone who has read through the entire bible many times, I recommend you don't stop at 1 time through. You can't KNOW the word in one reading. Read it again and again, study it, reflect on it and apply it to your life. That is the only way to know it and live according to it.

2Timothy 4:16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Paul lived the word of God. When he was deserted by those he would have hoped to get defense from, instead of being angry and condemning them, he was like Jesus. He could have given into the lies of the world that his help comes from man and condemned those who deserted him and spoken poorly of them. But instead, he was forgiving and didn't want anyone else to hold it against them either. He knew that his strength came from God and that the Lord was with him through it all. Giving him strength to endure and the words to preach. The Lord protected him and rescued him, he trusted that God will continue to do so until his time comes to join Jesus in the heavenly kingdom. That is the kind of life we can live when we KNOW the word of God and live it. We will not only experience God in our lives but we will recognize it and the lies. We will trust it not the world. And it will change how we respond to others. It will make us different from the world. Everything Jesus taught and did was different from what the world taught and did so be like Jesus. Be different.