The last days

2 Timothy 3:1-5

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

If we were to hold our culture/world today to this standard, how would it do? If each "quality" or "characteristic" was worth a point, What grade would it receive?

Now hold the Bride of Christ, the church, under that same standard? How would it do? What grade would it receive?

Finally, hold yourself to these standards. How would you do? What would your grade be?

The Bride of Christ needs to be set apart from this world. We need to be Righteous, Sanctified, Holy, and Pure. It's easy to sit back and say, "Yup, Paul was spot on about how the world was going to be in the end times!" Is the church's grade much more different than the worlds grade? How much more is it towards the end days of this twisted, sick and wicked world when the church of Christ isn't much more different than the world?

What should we do? We need to be on fire and be urgent about evangelism, about spreading the Good News throughout the world, and about our personal testimony and walk with God. Paul was definitely urgent when he wrote about this... how much more should we be urgent about this warning/heeding with the current state of our world?