For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people. – 2 Timothy 3:2-5 (CSB)

My father spent a considerable amount of time bemoaning the state of affairs in this world during his latter years, cautioning against falling prey to the temptations and attitudes of the present age. A man of faith, he spent much more time than that in deep study of God’s Word. As a younger man, I would scoff at such warnings and chalk it up to his age. Now, not so much. As someone who tries to keep up with current affairs, especially in the United States, I cannot help but raise an eyebrow at some of the crazy, often pc-centric things I read about and watch on television. Sin is so often celebrated instead of being called out for what it is. Christians who are bold enough to take a stand for their faith are lumped into categories with either imbecilic morons or haters, depending on the issue and the accuser.

If you are conservative, then you are often labeled as someone who doesn’t care about others and wishes to oppress those who are less fortunate, keeping them in a lower social stratum as long as possible — denying them any possibility of advancement. Of course, I am sure there are those greedy, godless types whose love of money and power drives them to stop at nothing to achieve their foolish goals. But, for the most part, I think that most of those who embrace conservatism are as passionate as those who embrace opposite ideas and only want to see society benefit from their human points of view.

For myself, I have decided to embrace the party of Jesus Christ and focus on issues of eternal significance!

2 Timothy 3:2-5 lists 19 things we as believers don’t want to be. They are things that are so clearly on the rise in modern society. I am sure they have always been a part of the sinful fallen condition of the human race, but they seem more prevalent now — often seemingly revered in our culture. A simple half hour of the evening news will undoubtedly touch on just about every single aspect of behavior listed in those verses.

My thanks to my pastor, who pointed these 19 things out recently when teaching on 2 Timothy. I pray that the Holy Spirit will keep pointing these things out as warning signs to all of us as believers in our daily walk with Him.