Elephant in the Room — The Lies in Our Culture - Thursday
Today’s Verse
2 Timothy 4:2-4
…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season... For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (ESV)
Have you ever been caught unprepared?
In 2023, my dad and I flew to Antigua, Guatemala to do a week of Spanish language school with a group from his church. I’ve always loved languages and had my first formal Spanish lesson as a kindergartener, but my education had some long breaks over the years. By the time I went on this trip, my Spanish felt a bit like a block of Swiss cheese—substantial in some areas but completely void in others. On our first day, we took a walk and ended up in front of Iglesia de La Merced, a Catholic church built in the late eighteenth century. Its edifice stands tall and bright against the volcanic backdrop.
Having only been in Guatemala for a few hours, I hadn’t gauged quite how much I would need to rely on Spanish. As we looked up at the building, one of the nuns spotted us and made a beeline over with her clipboard. She gave a little spiel about donating to their order, and as my dad and I would do many times that week, I translated, and he responded. The moment her mouth opened, it was like panic threw away the key to my tongue, and I couldn’t utter a word in Spanish. When the exchange ended, I felt bad and wanted to add something. “Me gusta su equipaje!” I blurted out. It sounded garbled in my mouth, but her confused expression and hesitant nod confirmed I hadn’t said the right thing. Hours later, it dawned on me. I’d told the Catholic nun I liked her luggage, instead of their church building.
In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul tells Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season…” You never know exactly when you’ll get the chance to talk to someone about Jesus. And you never know exactly when the enemy will come to steal, kill, and destroy. When you are ready with a heart that knows the Word at all times, you won’t get caught unprepared when you come up against lies and false teachers. Like Scott said on Sunday, “Let’s get so intimately acquainted with the Truth that we can easily spot a lie.”
When I got to Guatemala, I wasn’t ready to switch immediately into Spanish mode. Somehow, I thought I’d have more leeway, and my lack of solid understanding led to some funny and outright incorrect mistakes. But when it comes to the Truth of Scripture, let’s not play games or make up what sounds good in the moment. There are no half-truths or sort-of-kind-of truths. Only the Truth.
When people relax away from the Truth, they don’t swap it for nothing. Truth gets replaced with lies, and that trade has much higher stakes than swapping out the wrong vocab word.
PRAYER
Lord, help me to see the urgency in knowing Your Word intimately. When I wander and fail, reacquaint my heart with Your Truth that I might pursue You all the more.
