The lawless man

2 Thessalonians 2
3Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
5Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.


I take so much more from this reading than what is at face value. Don’t we all know lawless men? Don’t we come in contact everyday with people that want to deceive us? If you look at it, you see that it is no different than what is written in this reading. People will lie to you, deceive you, lead you down the wrong path. It happens daily, and the passage is right on, if you don’t believe, if you do not have faith, you will believe the lies, you will be sucked in to these false truths.

Giving up your soul and beliefs for the comfort of what I call “the easy truth”. We should stand strong in our faith. We should be alert for the lawless man, perhaps even expect him, and prepare for him. It will be his interactions with us that will test our faith, the meetings provide us with a time to stand in faith, and follow God’s word, not the popular word. We truly have defining moments in our life, either we define the moment or it defines us. My hope is that we will always live to define the moment; that when the lawless man stands before us, we can recognize him for what he is and call him out on his unjustness. Here again, it is just as important that we do not become the lawless man.

In our lives we daily have the opportunity to distort the truth, to stack things to our advantage, to misrepresent the situation for our personal gain. I have to admit that it is tempting for me on some days. A lie can silence any situation faster than the truth. A lie is what people want to hear a lot of times, while the truth always seems to take some explaining. The truth is lot of times is difficult, maybe even hurtful, while the lie will give a false sense of comfort. Don’t live for the easy truth, live for the Lord and the one real truth.

SO gentlemen, may we go this day forward with our eyes open, awake in the truth of the Lord. Not only looking, and preparing for the lawless man, but ensuring that we do not become the man that we are looking for.

Peace,
Rev. T