Today’s Scripture Reading (March 3,
2015): 2 Timothy 3
The Ukraine continues
to gather allies, not for a public relations war against Russia, but for a
military one. They are seeking countries who are willing to supply them with
both the lethal weapons that will be needed for such a conflict as well as the
training necessary on how to use them. Anyone willing to supply the weapons
should contact the Ukrainian Home Office. And no, I don’t mean to make light of
the deadly situation that is growing in Eastern Europe. But the lack of a
solution in the struggle between the two former Soviet Union powers is
disturbing to all of us who believe in peace, who believe that the God of peace
can work through us, even in the midst of those who crave violence, and that
God works best through us when we are weak. For the casual observer, it is easy
to get caught up in the rhetoric and lose the reality. Most of us don’t even
know what the reality is. We know what the two sides are trying to tell and the
case that they are building for a future war, but admittedly our reaction to
the speakers is dependent on which speaker we trust the most. Where I live, I
have more friends of Ukrainian descent than I do Russian. So it is the
Ukrainian position that I hear the most. I also have a predisposition as a
child of the cold war against Russia. (However, I also have more Russian
readers than Ukrainian, so please forgive me.) But admittedly, none of this
makes a case for truth on one side or the other.
With regard
to the false teachers and people who oppose the truth (and specifically in this
passage it is the truth as declared by God) it is interesting that Paul refers
to the story of Moses and Jannes and Jambres. Jannes and Jambres (this is the
only biblical mention of the names of the men, although a portion of their
stories can be found in Exodus) are traditionally the names given to the
magicians who opposed Moses in the house of the Pharaoh early in the exodus
story. These were the men that tried to recreate the signs of Moses as he
argued with the Pharaoh over the issue of the release of the Hebrew slaves, and
these magicians did so with at least some success. But Paul reminds Timothy
that their success was not because they were on the side of truth. They had
been so warped by their culture that they could not see the truth of God (this
is the basic meaning behind the idea that they were men of depraved minds.) And
because they were the enemies of the truth of God, they were rejected from the
standpoint of faith.
But it might
also be important to notice that Moses and Israel did not actively move against
either of the magicians, or the nation and the Pharaoh that they represented.
That was left for God. In the end, it was God that performed the miracles that
Jannes and Jambre could not replicate, and could not overturn. It was an act of
God on behalf of a people that could not defend themselves against the
superpower of the day. All that Moses could do was to speak the word of the
Lord.
For Ukraine
and Russia, my prayer is that somehow they are able to find a way through the
maze of politics, which I recognize is much more complicated than any of us
standing on the outside realize, to a place of peace. My prayer is that the
people of both of these great and important nations will somehow be able to
recognize the truth of God before this goes too far. And that they will be able
to lead the rest of us into the ways of peace.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2
Timothy 4
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