TURNING AWAY

I Tim. 4:1-2 Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from what we believe; they will follow lying spirits and teachings that come from demons. These teachers are hypocrites and liars. They pretend to be religious, but their consciences are dead.

They are everywhere. They are leaders in the church. They are teachers in the classroom. They are influential people in the church and community. They are people who have turned away from the truth. It is easy to put on a front and convince people that you are for real. It is easy to even convince ourselves that we are okay when we are not grounded in the Word.

People turn away from the truth for varied reasons. One of the main reasons why I think people wander away is that they grow complacent and fail to maintain godly disciplines. They stop growing, become stagnant and open themselves up to all kinds of wrong thinking. Most people don’t intentionally set out to be false teachers, but because they don’t intentionally pursue God and stay in His Word, they become false teachers.

Many stray from the truth because they believe the lie that what goes on in the darkness is better than what goes on in the light. They stay in the dark also because they know deep down inside their souls that if they came out of the darkness they would be found guilty of sin and held accountable for it.

We are very susceptible to following false teachers because we ourselves are not good students of the Word. We let others do our thinking for us. We don’t verify for ourselves that what we hear is true to God’s Word. We don’t like a way of life that involves changing so we gravitate to those who don’t proclaim it's necessity. We want an easy road to heaven and love to listen to those who promise it. We like our comfortable living and want to hear how God makes us more comfortable. We want heaven’s blessings without it costing us anything. We like it when people tell us what we want to hear instead of what we need to hear.

Guard your soul. Be a diligent student of God’s Word. Think for yourself about what the Word teaches with an open heart before God. Ask Him to make it clear to you what He is saying. Be sure you sincerely want to know what God is saying. If God confirms what you hear in His Word, then fine. If not, listen to God and not man.