In these current times, we are traversing a pivotal epoch. The company we keep, those who harmonize with our purpose, remains of paramount importance. However, we are entrusted with the task of discerning those who should truly be part of our inner circles. A lot of people who cross our paths are fated to share our journey, and although it presents challenges, wisdom dictates the essential need to maintain a certain distance from specific individuals.
While it carries a serious note, the conscious decision to steer clear of certain connections becomes a crucial choice. Our overall well-being and spiritual voyage hinge on this choice.
This blog deeply explores a subject that resonates with the revered Apostle Paul. His guidance to Timothy, and consequently to us, holds immense significance. A comprehensive list of individuals comes to light, encouraging us to exercise caution in the selection of our companions.
What to expect in this post
The enumeration might astound you with its length, revealing the array of personalities that Paul cautioned against. Yet, within this assemblage, lies a poignant reminder of our shared responsibility to exercise caution.
This compendium serves as a mirror, inviting introspection and the discernment of traits in both ourselves and others. As we embark on this introspective journey, it becomes evident that now is the opportune moment for transformation. The heralded return of our Lord Jesus necessitates a readiness that extends beyond the surface. It impels us to embrace change, cast aside negative attributes, and recalibrate our lives to honor the essence of our faith.
In embracing this evaluation, we invite a transformative shift, not merely for our own selves, but to enhance our interconnectedness with God and with one another. As we heed the counsel set forth, we find ourselves aligning with a profound call to elevate our existence and emerge as beacons of righteousness in these hard times.
Bible examples
But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].
For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.
Lovers of themselves: an intense and selfish desire to get more money.
Self-centered: preoccupied with oneself and one’s affairs.
Lovers of money: having a hunger for money beyond God.
Lovers of wealth: desperate for possessions and fame.
Proud: having or showing a high or excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s importance.
Arrogant: having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance or abilities.
Boaster: talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities.
Abusive: extremely offensive and insulting.
Disobedient to parents: refusing to obey rules or someone in authority.
Unholy: sinful, wicked, unnatural and potentially harmful.
Profane:(of a person or their behaviour) not respectful of religious practice; irreverent.
People to be careful with.
2 Timothy 2:3-4
[They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.
[They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.
Lack of natural human affection: lack of fondness, tenderness, and liking, especially when nonsexual.
Relentless: harsh or inflexible.
Slanderer: a person who slanders someone (= damages their reputation by making a false spoken statement about them)
Intemperate: having or showing a lack of self-control; immoderate.
Loose of morals: they don’t have a strong moral code.
Which kind of people to also avoid?
Uncontrolled: not showing emotion; having one’s feelings under control.
Fierce: having or displaying an intense or ferocious aggressiveness.
Haters of good: a person who greatly dislikes a specified person or thing.
Treacherous: guilty of or involving betrayal or deception.
Rash: acting or done without careful consideration of the possible consequences; impetuous.
Self-conceit: undue pride in oneself.
Sensual pleasures: relating to or involving gratification of the senses and physical, especially sexual, pleasure.
Vain amusement: the feeling of being entertained by irrelevant things.
We are called to be lovers of God in everything we do.
Which other kinds of relationships should we be cautious of?
2 Timothy 5-9
For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].
For among them are those who worm their way into homes and captivate silly and weak-natured and spiritually dwarfed women, loaded down with [the burden of their] sins [and easily] swayed and led away by various evil desires and seductive impulses.
[These weak women will listen to anybody who will teach them]; they are forever inquiring and getting information, but are never able to arrive at a recognition and knowledge of the Truth.
Why should we avoid these kinds of people?
2 Timothy 3: 8-9
Now just as Jannes and Jambres were hostile to and resisted Moses, so these men also are hostile to and oppose the Truth. They have depraved and distorted minds, and are reprobate and counterfeit, and to be rejected as far as the faith is concerned.
But they will not get very far, for their rash folly will become obvious to everybody, as was that of those [magicians mentioned].
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