Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Smile. It gets worse. Those are strangely comforting words that tell us that things are not as dark as they will be. However, if this life is all there is, there is no comfort but only the anticipation of despair. These verses would seem like cause for despair. After all, the author will soon be beheaded. That is not his attitude as he prepared Timothy to lead the church in Ephesus. He warned him that things would get worse so he could have an action plan in place. The action plan is in the next verses; stay in the word and trust it because it is God speaking comfort to you. That was a good action plan for someone who would take the mantle once the Apostle Paul was martyred.
It is also a good action plan for us today. Evil people and impostors saturate the internet and social media, indeed going from bad to worse. They are deceived and use their savvy and charisma to deceive others into abandoning the truth for a lie and following men instead of the King of kings. The only way to avoid this is to stay grounded in the Bible, being in Christ, and living in his covenant. It gets worse but our smiles are not forced. They are the real response to our salvation.
Dear Lord, thank you for the cross, our salvation, and the Bible. Help us to read it today to comfort us in trial and to prepare us for worse trial. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church