Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. 6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;
8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
False teaching in the church always gains influence by appealing to the philosophical and cultural currents of the day. False teaching almost always makes its entrance into the
body of Christ by Christians accommodating the tastes and perversions of the culture they find themselves living in.
We are a culture that lives for our sexual pleasures; the insatiable need to be entertained, as well as a perverted sense of revenge and getting what we are convinced we deserve
because we are victims…and all of that has made its way into the church. And although the temptations for the church in Ephesus where Timothy was the pastor would be different than those that threaten the church in the 21st century, I think we can
still take Paul’s positive admonishment to heart.
What are we called to do here? We are to be thankful for what God has made because it is good, just the way it is. We are to be people who appreciate and enjoy the
world that God has made and receive its wonders with genuine thanksgiving.
Paul mentions marriage…God made marriage between a man and woman, and declared it good. Any perversion of that is evil. The sexual life was and is to be enjoyed within the bounds
of that marriage…and it is good, and again, all perversions of that are evil.
We should turn our hearts to what God has said and what He has blessed us with and use them as He intended. Living as God has called men and women, boys and girls to live.
Be a true Christian humanist…enjoying life as God meant it to be. We are to see the hand of God in all we do and receive everything with thanksgiving, and to sanctify it with
prayer, prayer that acknowledges God’s creative goodness and our responsibility to use his wonderful gifts in ways that honor him and bless others.
In that way we will get all of the good that God has prepared for us and none of the harm that is the inevitable result of the misuse of His gifts or of ingratitude for them.
G.K. Chesterton put it this way in reference to the prayer of thanks that we all pray before a meal:
You say grace before meals.
All right.
But I say grace before the play and the opera,
And grace before the concert and pantomime,
And grace before I open a book,
And grace before sketching, painting,
Swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing;
And grace before I dip the pen in the ink.
[in Stott, 115]
Know the real thing, experience the reality of life as God intended and we will extinguish temptation and shut the mouth of the devil. For our part, we are going to take him at
his word.
Prayer: Gracious Savior, I confess that I am a disciple who often stumbles and sometimes falls. Forgive me for being half-hearted in my discipleship. Forgive my wandering
eye and heart. Holy Spirit of God, fill me and set me to this journey of following my Savior with full heart, mind and soul. Help me that I might not be a disappointment to Him, rather that I might shine as a light in a crooked and perverse generation. To
the glory of Him who has loved me with an eternal love, Amen.
Song: These are They Who Follow the Lamb