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The Scriptorium

Lovers of Themselves

Love for God and neighbors fails because of this. 2 Timothy 3.1-5

The Pastoral Epistles: 2 Timothy 3 (1)

Pray Psalm 2.1-3.

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

Read and meditate on 2 Timothy 3.1-5.

Preparation.

1. When are “the last days” (cf. Acts 2.14-17)? 

2. Look at what is first on the list in verse 2. Why do people act the way Paul says they will in the last days?

Meditate. 
People have always loved themselves above everything else. But in our day, we have waded into a morass of narcissism in which all that seems to matter is that people get whatever they want. Every person wants what’s right in his or her own mind, regardless of how that might impact others.

Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, saw this coming. He warned Timothy because, as is apparent in verse 5, even people who seem to have faith in Jesus and at least some “form of godliness” can be, at bottom, mere lovers of themselves.

Self-love must not be the defining love of our souls. Love for God comes first, because in loving Him we learn what real love is like, and how we should want others to love us. This, then, equips us to love others with the love of God, just as we should want them to love us. All Christian teaching and preaching must work toward these ends (1 Tim. 1.5), because if Christians don’t model true love to our narcissistic world, the swamp of narcissism will swallow and drown us all.

Paul’s list of disagreeable traits is not meant to be exhaustive, but illustrative of where out-of-control self-love leads. We see all these characteristics present and increasing in our day – just as Paul did in his – because we are living in the last days, which began with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2.14-17). Paul warns Timothy about this because, as shepherd over the Lord’s flock, he must be careful to identify the presence of any of these markers in the people of his church, and work diligently to overcome them.

Self-love is like a virus. Unchecked and uncorrected, it will infect all our thoughts, affections, values, and priorities; and we’ll think it’s just the most natural thing to do or say or seek or have just about whatever we want. And we’ll expect our church, rather than to equip us for serving others, to serve our every whim and need. And when that happens, we have entered “perilous times” indeed.

Reflect.
1. Meditate on Isaiah 2.1-8. In “the last days” such as Paul described, what should the Church be like?

2. Why is out-of-control self-love so poisonous? How can we tell when the love we rightly have for ourselves is beginning to become misguided?

3. What should believers do if they notice any of these indicators in themselves? In their fellow believers?

There isn’t anyone, after all, who doesn’t love himself. But we have to look for the right sort of love and avoid the wrong sort. You see, anyone who loves himself by leaving God out of his life and leaves God out of his life by loving himself, doesn’t even remain in himself but goes away from himself. Augustine (354-430), Sermons 330.3

Teach me to love You better, Lord, so that I might love my neighbors well, especially today as I…

Pray Psalm 2.1-6.

How might you encounter the anger of unbelievers today? Are you prepared for it? How will you respond? Take all these matters to the Lord in prayer.

Sing Psalm 2.1-6
Psalm 2.1-6 (Agincourt: O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!)
Why do the nations vainly rage, conspiring together from age to age?
Earth’s kings and all of their counselors stand against the Lord and His Right Hand:

“Now let us cast His yoke below, His Kingdom authority overthrow!
Throw off His Law, reject His Word; no more be governed by this Lord!”

The Lord in heaven laughs in wrath at all who embark on this cursèd path.
His angry Word to them is plain: “Yet shall My King in Zion reign!”

T. M. Moore

Men, we encourage you to follow Paul’s exhortation and to join our Men’s Prayer Movement. Watch this brief video (click here), then download the brochure that accompanies it. Get started praying more consistently, and enlisting other men to pray, by ordering two copies of If Men Will Pray, a fuller exposition of 1 Timothy 2. 1-8, by clicking here. Another excellent way is to register for the course, “Parameters of Prayer,” at The Ailbe Seminary. It’s free, and it will definitely change your life.

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Scriptorium as a free resource for your walk with the Lord, please consider supporting our work with your gifts and offerings. You can contribute to The Fellowship by clicking the Contribute button  at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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