Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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The Truth
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12    
                
Alex Thomas

Long Island Mar Thoma Church, New York
"They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved"10.b
It would seem really strange that the title of today’s devotion read’s “The Truth” and then the passage proceeds to speak about ‘'lawlessness” and ''deception'', and ideas that one would not typically associate with truth. However, we must sometimes experience tough times to realize how great the good times are, in the same way, we do not realize how great the truth is unless we know what a lack of truth entails.
The theme verse comes from verse 10 and it says that people actually perish because they do not love the truth. In addition, verse 3 talks about how the man of lawlessness is doomed to destruction. These are not pleasant concepts in the slightest, and so the passage is trying to show that it is really important to hold on to the truth.
Many people who read this passage may focus on the fact that God is talking about not being fooled by the “man of lawlessness”. Many people read this passage and begin to speculate about who the lawless man is. However verse 9 tells us all that we need to know, in saying that “the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works.” Satan epitomizes everything we should not do- so why don’t we focus on what we should believe?
What is the truth? The truth is that the day of the Lord has already come! The truth is that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ of Nazareth was born as a man with no sin, and He became sin, so that He might be a perfect sin offering for us. That He may act as the propitiation for our sins, and the atonement for all acts that have pulled us away from the righteousness of God.
So yes, when this passage is talking about the “coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, it is referring to the second coming. However, in order for us to be ready for His second coming, we have to understand the weight of the first time He came! The second coming is just the completion of the beautiful love story between God and His creation that God has woven through the continuum of time and space. This is the truth. Let us hold fast to this truth daily, and watch how walking in that understanding could change our lives.

PRAYER

Father , we pray that the weight of the truth of Your gospel would radically shake us, empower us, and mobilize us to go forth in freedom and fulfill Your will for us. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
God wants us to live in the freedom that His grace has given us- all we need to do is tap into what God wants in our lives rather than what we conceive for ourselves. 

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