The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-10

Today I give my final (for now) thoughts on truth. As an aside: I recently finished a  Bible study by Beth Moore entitled Children of the Day.  It is an excellent guide through the two letters to the church in Thessalonica, and before I continue I would like to wholeheartedly recommend it.

During the course of studying and copying the two letters by hand, I spent much time thinking about the coming Day of the Lord. The whole process refreshed me and gave me new perspective during a season of discouragement and even doubt in my minuscule ministry. It also left the last eleven words of 2 Thessalonians 2:10 ringing in my head.

I had honestly never noticed those words before. Perhaps it is because the phrase about love rejoicing with the truth was already lingering in my thoughts, but when I read this section of 2 Thessalonians, the thought of those who refuse to love the truth hit me hard.

I have already been feeling sorrow over the many who do not know the truth and live without hope or with false hope. Ignorance, however, can be remedied.  It was truly gut-wrenching to me to think about the people who do know the truth and yet refuse to love it. It tears me up inside that many men and women will see clear evidence of the truth and yet, with great hostility, reject it.

What was humbling to me about this is that I may never know the difference.  Some who appear to reject truth (like my old self) will eventually come to know it, love it, and even live for it. Others may grow colder and harder the more exposure to truth they have, willfully closing their eyes to the evidence and their hearts to the One who is Love.  Some may even pretend to embrace truth while their hearts are far from the Lord, neither truly believing nor loving the truth. I grieve for all of these.

Perhaps it is because my teenage son is taking a course in apologetics this year, or perhaps it is just the inundation of misunderstanding, moral confusion, and outright lies that I find my social media pages awash in, but I am finding a greater passion within me to not only know the truth, but to live like I know it. I also find it exciting to think of sharing the truth with whoever will listen… and maybe even with some who don’t really want to listen but are, for whatever reason, a captive audience.

The more I learn about God’s truth and the more I see the world drifting haphazardly without a tether to Him, the more passionate I become about sharing. I have lately prayed more desperately that the Light of the World would shine so brightly in my life that others may see and be drawn to God. More than ever before, I want Him to increase and myself to decrease in my writing, my parenting, and every other aspect of my life.

Yet it is humbling to realize that even if I surrender perfectly and lead a Spirit-led life from now until my last breath,  and even if my tiny ministry inexplicably grew to touch millions, there will always be those who will refuse to love the truth.  I can plant the seeds, I can water, but only God can bring the increase.

And so, no matter what else, I am asking Him to bring the increase. I am asking Him to revive the hearts of His people and to pour out His Spirit in abundance. I am pleading with Him to renew His works in our day.  I am asking that I may love His truth more and more, that my family will cherish His truth and His ways, and that His word will speed ahead and be honored.

And I am praying for you, that if you read these words, you will be among those who love the truth and so will be saved.

I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts. . .   Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Psalms 119:94-97