The Liar's Snare
False prophets seem like something that only the ancient world needed to worry about. Unfortunately, we may call them different names, but they have always existed and will continue their perversion until the last day. The picture that Peter paints for us in today’s reading reveals that this lying epidemic has never gone away. Listen to the description of these wicked people: “indulge in the lust of defiling passion… despise authority… bold and willful, they are not afraid to revile the glorious ones (verse 10); “irrational…reviling in matters of which they are ignorant” (verse 12); “count it pleasure to revel in the daytime… reveling in their dissipation, carousing with you” (verse 13); “eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin… have hearts trained in greed (verse 14); “uttering loud boasts of folly” (verse 18). Do these sound like characteristics we still find our society? Of course they do. These are the characteristics our society honors and boasts the most of.
Our world tells its children to do what feels good to them. Schools teach that we should indulge in what makes us happy – regardless of the consequences or whom it might hurt. “You do you” is preached and hidden in every context of life. The bold, beautiful, and wealthy fill their time reveling in all types of fleshly sensations, all the while having their pictures taken to be plastered across internet screens around the world. Righteousness is seen as a weakness and morality as a crime. Oh that this were a newly entertained disease of the soul. Unfortunately, it has been the same since Adam, and will continue as long as God exercises patience as He contends for the souls of the lost. Peter gives us such clear descriptions of these false prophets so that we are not caught off guard by their silvery tongues of deceit. Notice in verse 14, Peter tells us, “They entice unsteady souls.” The way we fight and resist the corruption of deceit in our world is to be stable in our faith. As Peter told us from the very beginning of his letter, the only cure for a lie is to be solidly sure of the truth.
Lies surround us on every side. It can be confusing. It can be tempting to hide our faith or to shrink away from acts of righteousness because of the reaction we know we will procure. As Christians, we need to steady our minds against the corruption of this world. We need to keep our sight fixed on Jesus and eternity with God. If we allow the world to grow too large in our sight, we will allow its temptations to grow in power and influence. Once again, we are reminded that the only cure for sin is the cross. The only defense against the lie is the truth. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
(Written by Keegan Harkins.)
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