2 Timothy 3:1-5 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

That is a large list of characteristics and behaviors. As you read the list there may be  a person or even a group of people who come to mind. Look closely and you will find the negative expression of nearly everything we are called to be in Christ. They are selfish, we are to be selfless. They are truce breaks, we are to be covenant keepers. They are false accusers, we are asked to walk in truth.

The one that is the easiest for me to spot these days are those who despise good. Just as soon as the news coverage starts focusing on natural affection, people helping people in need, there is a class of people who stage events to do violent things to draw attention away from anything good. They know that spectacle draws attention to coverage, to attention, and they want attention to spread their evil intentions. Easy to spot.

The one that bothers me the most is the one that is the hardest to identify. That is the last one, the form of godliness without God. Claiming power without obedience of faith, denial of the One who has the power. It bothers me more than the rest because the power of God is unto salvation and those who follow men and women that have the form but not the presence will deny the lost God’s salvation.

Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Divisive might not be the perfect description for this devotional. While listening to a brother in the Lord speak to a group of men this word kept coming into focus in my mind. The talk was about identity, specifically our identity in Christ.

Divisive is defined as tending to cause disagreement or hostility between people. As I read Paul’s warning to us in Romans 7, there are two forces within me that pull at me for their attention. In this there is the potential for hostility between the spirit and flesh. The spirit identifies me as being in Christ. I find my purpose, passion and progress in Christ. I find in my flesh the memory of sin, pleasures and the ability to hear all the lies that tell me I am not worthy of being in Christ. So much of what I went through when I first came to Christ put that glorious light upon sin in my life that I might die to sin.

Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Since Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, the single eye, looking upon Jesus, my body is full of light. Satan, our enemy would have us look inward, at self, and in so doing focus on the old dead flesh. Satan can only resurrect dead things in darkness.

Psalm 143:3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.