TOPIC: EVIL DRESSED AS GOOD
OPENING PRAYER: Dear Lord, I request that you help me to encounter you as I meditate on your word.
Scripture: 2 Peter 2:10b-22
Question(s) for Reflection
• What is God revealing to me in this passage?
MESSAGE
Peter’s description of false teachers and prophets may sound bizarre to those unaccustomed to the arrogant and daring theatrical display of such people! Deceit is the banner over their activities. Calling false teachers “ravenous wolves”, Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16); and, here, Peter exposes their fruit?shameless, revelling in pleasure, adultery, continuous sinning, seducing the vulnerable, experts in greed, loving wages of wickedness (like Prophet Balaam who longed for a profit instead of obeying the Lord?Numbers 22-23).
See others in vs.10-12. Praising themselves as deeply spiritual and mystical, they underrate the powers of Satan and supernatural beings. How does 1 Peter 5:8 and Ephesians 6:12,13 caution Christians not to take lightly the powers of darkness? Any “man of God” who directs worshipers to themselves instead of to God is a deceiver whose end is destruction (v.12).
The metaphors used to describe false prophets and teachers in vs.17,18 indicate how empty and hopeless their claims are. Even more dangerous is leading people to destruction. The Christian life calls for a daily, full-time dedication to Christ, for backsliding and a half-hearted attitude results in the serious consequences described in vs.20-22.
• Any new insight or reinforcement of what you already know?
Closing Prayer
• Thank you, Lord, for the timely warning about falsehood and its repercussions.
• Ask for the spirit of grace and excellence in all you do.
Prayer For The Week:
Pray for brethren who were once among us but have backslidden. Pray that God will restore them and make them continue with Him and the brethren in fellowship. Pray for the Catholic Church.
Offer a prayer of faith in line with
• Psalms 123-125; 2 Cor. 7
PREVIOUSLY ON SCRIPTURE UNION DEVOTIONALS
Thank you for your time in reading Today’s Scripture Union Daily Guide 28 August 2021 – Evil Dressed As Good. God bless you!