Message Magazine’s Online Devotional for Friday, July 3, 2015
Based Upon 2 Thessalonians 2:11
“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Romans chapter one speaks of ungodly people who rejected the true worship of God in exchange for worshipping created things. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” (Romans 1:21-23, 28).
Such will be the case in the final hours of the last days. As men and women everywhere have opportunity to love the Lord and His truth, some will choose not to. Some will not be satisfied with God’s holiness and will choose false worship. It will be clear that it will not be enough to merely know what truth is, but we will need to accept and love the truth. Only the Lord can put this within us. As with the new covenant, the Lord will have to inscribe the law of love upon our hearts. He will have to teach us to appreciate the word, commandments, and Jesus Christ to the point that we would rather die than sin against Him.
During the time of this world’s greatest test, the Lord will reveal Himself in ways that we have never seen. He will make Himself known to the point that no one will choose evil ignorantly. All will deliberately choose to worship the Lord or follow the majority down a path to destruction. If we choose not to receive a love for the truth, the Lord will allow our decision to run its natural course, and we will have no insulation against the final deceptions of the enemy.
We are all preparing now for the decision we will make at the time of the final crisis. As the Lord allows certain tests to come into our lives, we practice making decisions that will one day determine our end. We can choose to be faithful by the grace of our God, or yield our will to the enemy. It is the small momentary decisions that provide the momentum of our lives. I pray that I will choose the Lord, every opportunity that I have. How about you?
