Dear Sister,
There is nothing that drives me more crazy than woman being deceived by our culture. Whether it’s in the books we read, the blogs we follow, the podcasts we listen to, whatever it is. It just stinks.
Deceit is causing someone to have the wrong idea about something, usually in order to gain something in return. Sometimes people deceive us on purpose but sometimes just because of human nature people share their ideas in order to make themselves feel better and we take their bad ideas as truth because they make us feel better too.
This brings me to 2 Timothy 3:6-9 (side note: take some time to read the whole book of 2Tim. it is packed full of encouragement.) The short of this is Paul (Timothy’s mentor and fellow disciple) is telling Tim (we’ll call him Tim today) what to look out for in the last days. People who only love themselves and money, who scoff at God, who are boastful and proud,… you get the gist. Then Paul says,
“They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable woman who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by many desires. Such woman are forever following new teachings, but they never understand the truth. And these teachers fight the truth just as Jannes and Jambres fought against Moses. Their minds are depraved and their faith is counterfeit. But they won’t get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as happened with Jannes and Jambres.”
Ok, who are Jannes and Jambres? Remember in Genesis when God gave Moses and Aaron the staff to turn into a snake when the Pharoah asked for a miracle and then after Moses did that the two magicians came out and did the same thing with their own staff? Well, those two magicians are Jannes and Jambres. (Exodus 7:10)
Moving on (we’ll go back to the magicians though).
Um, I do not want to be like the vulnerable woman Paul is talking about! I don’t want to be deceived. I know you don’t either. Here’s the thing though, we don’t have to wait for anyone to work their way into our houses. They’re already in. Facebook, twitter, etc… The ideas of this world are at our finger tips, literally. The ideas of someone else can be planted with just one scroll of a screen and we are vulnerable. Our desires can get the best of us unless, we know how to recognize deceit. How do we recognize deceit? Later in 2Timothy 3:16-17 he says this…
“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, FULLY EQUIPPED for every good thing God wants us to do.”
That’s where the freedom is! The scriptures.
Sister, We have to know what the word of God says so we can filter this world’s ideas through it’s lens. The scriptures fully equip us to recognize deceit.
-jesie browning
So, in case you don’t already know, you wanna know what happened with Jannes and Jambres? After their staff’s turned into snakes, Aaron’s snake jumped up and swallowed up both of their snakes. Bam. Gone. This is a the illustration of how the truth swallows up deception. The magician’s trick may have looked a lot like the miracle that Aaron and Moses did but it gave the wrong idea about God and who He was. God will not stand for it.
Do not be deceived, sister. You have the freedom to be fully equipped.
Sincerely,
Jesie Browning
Dear Sister, 