II Tim. 3:1-9 ... "In the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, ... etc."
In the two previous articles I have stated that the origin and energy of sin is self-interest. That is what II Tim. 3:1-2 clearly states: "In the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self." In the following eight verses a list of 18 sins is given. It is my conclusion that each of them is an express-ion of self-interest, being a "lover of self," or simply being selfish.
Consider the first-named in that list, being a "lover of money." What is more selfish than that? Money buys good clothing, fashion, pleasure and power. To a great many people money is the Golden Rule ... "He who has the gold is the one who rules." In an election year in this country, every candidate for an office persistently begs people of their political party to donate money on regular schedule (monthly). If you dare ask, "How much should I give?," the immediate answer is, "MORE!" It takes mountains of money to win an election. The idea is paramount that money has power. Furthermore, the Bible strongly emphasizes that money buys pleasure, a reality obvious to everyone. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, what did Jesus say the young man did with the bag of coins his father gave him? (Luke 15:13, 30).
What has just been said of self-interest leading to the love of money can also be demonstrated by the third and fourth sins in the list in II Timothy 3 ... boasting and arrogance. I would like to go through the entire list and demonstrate from Scripture the way in which self-interest leads to each sin named. It is a very easy task, and so relevant to daily life. But that would take far more space and time than I am willing to give in this series of articles. There is, however, one of them that claims central attention in the development of this series. It is something rarely recognized as being a sin, because it has taken control of the mind of so many people. Even in the church it is prevalent, and yet it is ignored without thought or consideration. There are occasional lessons given on ingratitude, but they seldom boldly proclaim and emphasize that it is a SIN! The usual assessment is that it is unbecoming and the result of distraction, then the emphasis shifts to the need to be grateful. No one is confronted with the realtiy that ingratitude is a sin, named in the same list with being "brutal, haters of good, treacherous and reckless." (Read the list!) Everyone recognizes the sinful nature of these other spiritual malignities of human char-acter, but we glide over ingratitude and do not emphasize it as sin.
One may argue that being ungrateful refers only to the failure to show gratitude to God. But the text in II Timothy does not limit the direction of being ungrateful. It is a sin to be ungrateful either to God or to people who give you of their time and material resources. In future articles, this theme will be discussed further in the hope that it will generate a dominant spirit of gratitude within all of us.
