TODAY IN THE WORD
According to data from the Unity Marketing Group in Stevens, Pennsylvania, Americans spent almost $706 billion on entertainment in 2004. As company president Pam Danziger explained, “Recreation and entertainment are purely discretionary and emotionally driven.”

As we continue to study holiness and humor in Scripture, we must reckon with our own choices in entertainment, recreation, and humor. Our passage provides a strong warning about our priorities.

This letter from Paul to Timothy was the last missive written by the aging apostle. Throughout the letter, his passion for the gospel, sense of urgency, and commission to Timothy permeate each sentence. He knew his own days on earth were numbered, and he wanted to be sure to communicate each exhortation that the next generation needed to hear.

Our text warns of the traits that will be seen and celebrated in the last days. We might expect to read about shocking or barbaric attitudes and actions to be catalogued here; it’s sobering to consider how unshocking most of us would find these descriptions. Lovers of money? Proud? Disobedient to parents? Unforgiving? Rash? If we were making a list of behaviors that signal the apocalypse, would we include these? Paul describes them as “terrible” (v. 1).

Included in the list is “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (v. 4). This sums up the root of all these sins. Rather than place God at the top of all priorities, people have placed themselves there. Rather than follow God’s instructions for relationships, people follow their own agenda. When self is on the throne, terrible things will follow.

These sinful priorities can infiltrate our attempts to worship. When we value self-actualization above Scripture, seek pleasure above discipleship, promote profit above praise, or want entertainment above worship, we deny the power of the gospel (v. 5). The corrective is to measure our actions, attitude, and priorities against the truth of God in Scripture (vv. 14-17).

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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Some ascetics have used these verses to claim that all pleasure or entertainment is sinful, but that view isn’t supported here. Pleasure isn’t inherently sinful, but it must be subordinated to God. Saturation in Scripture is one of the best ways to help keep our priorities and pursuits in line. You can supplement your daily Bible reading with a Scripture memory plan, reviewing note cards with verses throughout the day, or listening to music that uses Scripture as lyrics.

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