What Are You Going to do About Pagans?

Photo by Flood G.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1-9

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.  For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.  But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

Insights: Yesterday we discussed the realities of all the pagans that live in the world.  Today I wish to just make you think about your own heart regarding them.  You have before you only two options regarding these pagans and tomorrow and Thursday I will write about those options.  You, however, have to choose which of these options you are going to embrace.  Your heart attitude toward the pagan world will reveal how you are going to respond to them.  As a result, I want you to think about your thoughts when you go to Walmart (and it does not have to be Walmart, it could literally be any place in which you frequent).  When you see a person who does not look like you, dress like you, talk like you, or smell like you, what kind of thoughts do you have toward that individual?  How you responded to this question reveals a great deal about your heart and what your response will be toward pagans.  Beloved, I must confess I have been wrestling with this issue for months and believe I have come to a point of resolve.  Friday, I will share my resolution.

Questions:

 1. In light of the fact the world is full of pagans, what are you going to do about it?

 2. Will you be a hinderance to the gospel or a proclaimer of the gospel?

Prayer: Father, I have not always chosen well in regards to the pagans of this world.  All too often I have shunned them for being lost instead of loving them with grace because of their need for a Savior.  Change my heart to love them the way You love them.  Amen.

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