House Cleaning

I was studying 2 Timothy 3 as I was preparing a Bible lesson on leadership. Paul was writing to Timothy to encourage, admonish, and strengthen him as a leader in the church. Let's look at what Paul said in verses 1-5:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be 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—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

As I reflected on this passage I think Paul is telling us who are leaders, in our families, in the church, in business, and in government that this will be us. Its not a reference to how awful the rest of the world will become, but how we will become if we're not careful. And unfortunately, I think we haven't been very careful. The humanistic, hedonistic, and pragmatic world we live in has helped us to become just what Paul said in this passage.

And it all starts with that first passage, men. Are we lovers of ourselves? As I thought about it, it became so obvious that we, me included, have fallen into that hole. As RC Sproul, Jr. once said, we seek our own personal peace and affluence, just like the rest of the world. In fact, the only real difference between us and the unbeliever is that we believe we also have a ticket to heaven. Otherwise, we like them, deep down, just want personal peace and affluence in our lives. I'll expand on that in a future blog, but for now I want you to think about it ... is it true, are you a self-lover? Do you love yourself more than you love the Lord? Honestly? What do our actions and attitudes tell us? I'll leave you to meditate on that. I know it was a hard thing for me to look at.

As Paul goes on in that passage, each of the other evils he describes flows from that first one ... self-love. The world encourages it, Satan teaches it, and we live it. Let's begin to look at this passage anew and really examine our own hearts and lives. It goes back to the very first commandment, doesn't it? You shall have no other gods before the Lord. Time to do a little house cleaning, time for me to move out and let the Lord move in.

Friends

I'm sitting in San Diego writing this blog entry. I had to travel for business but it has given me some time to reflect. Soon I'll be heading to New Mexico to take on some new business, church and family opportunities. The great part of it all is that I get to take on the challenges God lays before me with my family. He has blessed us in so many ways. A wonderful business opportunity, a godly Christian church with committed and mature elders. They are dedicated to help men to take leadership roles in their families and for those fathers and mothers to bring up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Oh yeah, I won't miss those Minnesota winters either!)

However, as I look forward, I also remember from where I came and all those the Lord sent into my life for me to teach and for me to learn from. You all know who you are! And I'll miss each of you. Its hard to say goodbye to such special friends. I just remember the words to the chorus of Michael W. Smith's song Friends:

And friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord of them. And a friend will not say never 'cause the welcome will not end. Though it's hard to let you go, in the Father's hands we know that a lifetime's not too long, to live as friends.

I'll hang onto that thought. Thanks for being my special friends in the Lord.