But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Not to be a doomsayer, but in the current age of "fake news," distrust of the media (rightly so in many cases), and overall disillusionment with social media, it dawned on me that a simple but obscure scripture I'd been praying for months held the key to cutting through the cacophony of voices in our modern media saturated age. The key? Know your source.
In 2 Timothy 3, Paul says "...evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." That sounds like the media circus we're experiencing right now. So what does Paul say to deal with this? "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it..." In other words, know your source, know the people you trust, and listen to them. Seek out people of character, who show that character by what they do and what they say. Take advice from those who are genuine and have depth. Seek wisdom that's been proven over time. Ignore the shallow, ignore the talking heads and shouting voices, ignore the fickle ideologies of the age. Stop. Listen to those who make sense.
In Timothy's case, there's a specific thing he learned from his Grandma: "... from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. " And if you get this, then you'll start to realize that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
