Religious Pretenders

Alright, so we are continuing on in 2 Timothy, and if you have your Bible, please open it up to 2 Timothy chapter 3.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

2 Timothy chapter 3, and we'll be looking at the first nine verses this morning.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

And as we come to this part of the letter, up till this point we've been hearing the Apostle Paul giving encouragement and instruction to the younger Timothy about how he should live and about how he should lead in the church there in Ephesus.

And last Sunday we heard Paul calling Timothy to live a holy life, to be set apart for honorable purposes, for the approval and the pleasure of Jesus Christ.

And we saw the contrast that Paul drew there between Timothy and Hymenaeus and Philetus, these false teachers who were causing trouble.

And the last thing that we heard Paul say in chapter 2, just in the last couple verses there, was that Timothy is to instruct these opponents gently in the hope that God will grant them repentance and a knowledge of the truth.

And in the hope that they would come to their senses and realize how the devil's been using them.

That's pretty sobering stuff.

But then as we come into chapter 3, it gets even a little bit more sobering.

Let me read what Paul wrote here in chapter 3.

Paul writes,

But mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days.

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving.

Slanderous, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited.

Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Have nothing to do with such people.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires.

Always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Just as Janus and Jambres oppose Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth.

They are men of depraved minds who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Let's start at the top here.

Paul says,

Mark this, quite literally,

Know this.

That in the last days there will be terrible times.

That word terrible, the word used there means troublesome or hard or difficult.

So in the last days there will be difficult times.

And then what follows is this lengthy description of the behaviors of people.

All of what makes these times difficult has to do with the behaviors of people, or at least some of it.

And before we get to looking at all of these different behaviors that are listed, let's just ask the question,

What does Paul mean when he says,

In the last days?

When are the last days?

And there's really two main views among Christians about this.

View number one is that the last days refers to the period of time between Jesus' first coming and Jesus' second coming.

View number one would say that we are in the last days right now,

and have been since Jesus first came 2,000 years ago.

Now, before you dismiss this view altogether, consider the following scriptures which refer to the last days.

Think of Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost.

There he stood in Jerusalem, and the Spirit was poured out on the apostles,

and some of the people thought that the apostles were drunk,

because they were speaking in other languages.

And Paul stands up in the midst of this gathering, and he says this,

Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you.

Listen carefully to what I say.

These people are not drunk, as you suppose.

It's only nine in the morning.

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.

And then he quotes the prophet Joel.

In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Your young men will see visions.

Your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

So what's Peter saying to the crowd that day of Pentecost, almost 2,000 years ago?

He's saying that the prophecy that was made by Joel hundreds of years earlier

was being fulfilled right now, that day.

In other words, in some sense, they were in the last days now.

And there are a few other scriptures we might look to here.

Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

The writer there says,

In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets,

at many times and in various ways.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.

And then another one in James chapter 5, verse 3.

James 5:3

James, the brother of Jesus, writing, addressing the rich people, says,

You rich people, your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.

Your gold and silver are corroded.

Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.

You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

And if you just look at the verb tense there in the context,

it's James' writing as if the last days have already begun.

We're in it.

And so when we come to 2 Timothy chapter 3,

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

it could be that Paul's not so specifically referring only to those things

that happen at the very, very end when Jesus returns

or near to when Jesus returns,

but that these are the kinds of things that will happen even in Timothy's lifetime,

that this whole period is the last days that we're in,

the last part of the great story of God.

View number two, of course, is that the last days refers only to the very distant future,

to those very few days leading right up to the return of Jesus.

And I'm not going to get into all the different views of the tribulation and the rapture here,

but the gist of this view is that the last days is just that period right before Jesus comes.

And most of those, most people who hold to this view would also say

that we're right now living in the last days,

that that time is very near,

and probably would point to this passage in 2 Timothy as the evidence.

And before we dismiss that view altogether,

depending on how you read this,

we could read the rest of the prophecy of Joel

that Peter cited in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And we notice there that there's actually more to what Joel said.

Not only will I pour out my spirit in the last days,

but I will show wonders in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

So there's, excuse me,

there's this great sign in the heavens

which marks the beginning of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

And that sign in the heavens didn't happen on the day of Pentecost.

It was also spoken of by Jesus,

this sign in the heavens in his sermon

or his discourse in Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

It's also referred to in Revelation chapter 6,

Revelation 6 · chapter mention

this great sign in the heavens

in connection with the final events of our world.

So there's this element to Joel's prophecy.

He spoke of something happening in the last days.

There's a sense in which it began then,

the outpouring of the Spirit,

but it also speaks to the very end

when Jesus comes in that great day of the Lord.

I think both of these views can kind of live together.

They both have good biblical support

and both seem to have some truth to them.

The last days seem to have begun

with the coming of the last king,

Jesus,

who will be king of the last kingdom.

And then the last days

certainly seem to climax or culminate

with his return

and the troublesome times that lead up to that.

And even as we look at this passage in 2 Timothy,

there's another one in Peter.

We'll skip over that one.

We see that there's both future and present.

But mark this,

there will be terrible times

or difficult times in the last days.

So that's future language.

People will be lovers of themselves,

lovers of money,

and so on and so forth.

Down to verse 9.

But they will not get very far.

Their folly will be clear to everyone.

So this is kind of the language of future.

But then we also see,

very clearly here,

the language of the present.

After listing out all the things

that they will be,

Paul says to Timothy,

have nothing to do with such people.

Which sort of implies

that some of these people

may begin to arise and appear

even right now in Timothy's day.

Now why make such a big deal over this?

The last days.

There are many eager to teach and preach

on end times

and future Bible prophecies

who come to these words

and they see only one main point.

And the main point is usually

that we are in the last days right now.

The end is quite imminent,

like any moment now.

And how do we know?

Because this is what Paul said

things would be like in the last days.

And look at the world that we live in today.

People are like this today, are they not?

Therefore we're here.

We're at the brink of the very end right now.

But I wonder if there isn't reason to pause here.

Look at this list.

These descriptions

of how people will be in the last days.

Is this how people have been only

in the last few hundred years?

Or are these things describing

how people have been since Timothy's day?

Let's look through this list just a little bit.

Skim through it.

It says people will be lovers of themselves.

Hasn't that been true for the past 2,000 years?

Selfishness and self-centeredness.

People will be lovers of money.

Is greed only a sin mainly of the 21st century?

People will be boastful and proud.

Is that something that we haven't really seen

that much before the last couple hundred years?

Has there been treachery on earth

in the past 2,000 years all the way through?

Yes.

How about brutality?

Absolutely.

Has there been all these things on earth

as the norm, as par for the course

for the past 2,000 years?

I mean, I think it just takes a quick skim through

a one-volume history of the world

from the time Jesus came till now

to see that the answer is yes.

What about verse 5?

Have there been people having a form of godliness

but denying its power?

Having an outward appearance of religion and piety

yet no real devotion to God?

Well, the past 2,000 years have been full of that.

We could point to the corruption

of the Roman Catholic Church

or the Inquisitions or the Crusades

or the great schisms and kings

declaring themselves head of the church

so they could authorize their own immoral marriages

and all kinds of things.

And so actually this passage,

at least in my opinion,

isn't all that helpful in telling us

precisely where we are on God's timeline

or just how last are the days

that we're in right now.

Now, this warning probably rung

just as true to Timothy in his day

as it does to us in ours.

Paul and other Christians

were treated brutally.

Paul was executed not long after this

even though he was innocent

along with most of the rest of the apostles.

Nero, the emperor, rose to power

right around this time

and he persecuted the followers of Jesus brutally.

We heard about Hymenaeus and Alexander

and Philetus

and we're going to hear about Demas,

men who claim the name of Jesus

and yet are proving to be

like the description

in these verses as well.

My point here is that

I'm not convinced that these are behaviors

that specially mark

only those days immediately

before Christ returns.

I think from this description of behaviors

that we've been living in the last days

since Christ came.

And the purpose of this, I think then,

is not to help us see and know

that Christ's coming is just

right about to happen,

but rather to help Timothy know

that these kinds of behaviors,

even by self-professing believers,

are to be expected

in the days ahead

right up till that final day.

Just to say it a little more clearly,

I do think that teachers and preachers

should stop using this passage to say,

Jesus is almost here

because the world has never been

as full of this stuff

as it is today.

Now some might say,

well, isn't it reasonable to expect

that the closer we get to the end,

the more like this people will be?

And I think that is reasonable.

That's what some of the other passages

that talk about the end

seem to indicate.

But now that still doesn't help us

know exactly how close we are.

Is the world very much more like this today

than it was 500 years ago?

Or are we just more aware

of the evil going on

in many different places

because of the information

that's available to us

through online news

and social media?

Or another question

that we might ask,

as bad as things seem today,

we don't like this thought,

but is it possible

that things may get

even 10 times worse

or 10 times more like this

in the decades

or even centuries ahead?

And so I will not preach

from this passage

that we're right on the brink

of the end.

I think sometimes

in our eagerness

to know the future

and in our anticipation

for the Lord's return,

which we should be anticipating,

we get caught up

in imagining

what the future will be like

and whether we're almost there

and we can easily miss

what this passage is saying.

What was Timothy

meant to understand

from this?

What benefit do these words

have to him in his day?

Is there more here

than just a dark picture

of the world at the end?

And I think to see that,

we maybe have to take

our end times glasses

off a little bit

and really seek to see,

what were you trying to say,

Paul, to Timothy?

What is there for him?

And as we do that,

I think that there's

at least one key

to really understanding

this passage well.

we could start

with this question.

Is this a general description

of how the world will be,

the people of the world will be?

Or does Paul have

a specific group of people

in mind here?

We're going to look

at some of these qualities

in a moment,

but let's not miss,

I think,

the key qualities

which identify these people

more precisely,

which narrow it down for us.

These people will be

all of these things,

and you can see the list

on the screen there.

And it probably doesn't mean

that every individual

will have every single

one of these things,

but that people will have

some or multiple

of these behaviors.

But then there's verse 5,

which seems to stand apart

as a truth

that's representative

for the whole lot of them.

Whoever these people are,

they seem to have this in common.

Having a form of godliness,

but denying its power.

They have a form of godliness,

but it's just a form.

It's an outward appearance,

a facade.

And this, I think,

really brings into focus

who these people are

that Paul is warning

Timothy about.

This is not about

the world in general

or about unbelievers

in general.

This is not about how,

you know,

so many people

in our day-to-day

are greedy

or loveless.

This is very specifically

people who have

a form of godliness,

who claim to be religious

or even confess

the name of Jesus,

yet who deep down inside

do not love God

and lack the characteristics

of holiness

that God's people

are continually striving for.

Now, is there any confirmation

that this is

what Paul has in mind?

Well, we could look at

what his instruction

is to do with these people.

He says,

have nothing to do

with such people.

So are we to ignore

everybody in the world

because this characterizes

our world,

does it not?

I don't think so.

I think that's a little bit

of the pointer

that this is specifically

those who claim

to know Jesus,

claim to know God,

have a form of godliness,

but it's not genuine.

We could look to the second half

of this passage as well.

Paul says,

have nothing to do

with such people.

And then he goes on.

He says,

they're the kind

who worm their way

into homes

and gain control

over gullible women

who are loaded down

with sins

and are swayed

by all kinds

of evil desires.

They're the kind

who are always learning

but never able

to come to a knowledge

of the truth.

Just as Janus

and Jambres

oppose Moses,

so also these teachers

oppose the truth.

They are men

of depraved minds

who as far as

the faith is concerned

are rejected.

So the people

whom Timothy

is to avoid

are these kind

of men,

the kind

who weasel

their way

into the homes

of women

who are weak

to their wiles.

These men

are infiltrators.

They're pretenders.

Perhaps in a manner

of speaking,

sneaking into the church

through the back door

by charming

some of the women.

But are they really

believing brothers?

It seems like

they might be.

They're always learning.

You can imagine

them sitting there

in Sunday school

enjoying the conversation,

the discussion,

eager to hear,

eager to discuss,

but at the end

of the day

never fully arriving

at a knowledge

of the truth.

Just like

Jonas and Jambres

oppose Moses,

so they are men

who oppose

or resist

or set against

the truth.

There is a resistance

to just fully

embracing it.

God's people

and this description

I think

seems to confirm

what we saw earlier.

They are people

who have a form

of godliness

but it's only a form.

It's an outward appearance.

It's a performance

that they're putting on.

Now who were

Jonas and Jambres?

What's the story

with them?

Well,

Jonas and Jambres

were never mentioned

in the Old Testament

by name.

It's possible

that they were

among some

of the leaders

of the Israelites

and that they were

some of the men

who opposed Moses

but again,

they're not mentioned

by name

so we don't know.

There was that little

dispute with Moses.

Does God only speak

through you

or does he not

speak through us also?

There were some

different names

mentioned in that account.

perhaps these were

who these men are.

Many scholars suggest

based on the names

themselves

that perhaps

these were the

Egyptian magicians

who opposed Moses

when Moses went

to ask Pharaoh

to set the people free.

They were able

to do some

of the same signs

it says

in Exodus chapter 7

Exodus 7:3

verse 3

and they opposed Moses.

In other words,

is God really

speaking through

this man?

No, look,

we can do

these things too.

In either case,

I think you see

there's that element

of religious devotion

and also that element

of crafty deception

and opposing the one

who God is really

speaking through.

So this I think

is the key

throughout this whole passage.

It's not just

about people in general

or unbelievers

in general.

It seems to be

very specifically

about people

having a form

of religion

having an appearance

of devotion

and yet it's false.

If they claim

the name of God

or Jesus,

they're imposters.

If they advocate

for some other cult

or form of religion,

they're false teachers.

And it really fits

well with what

Paul has been saying

just a minute ago

to Timothy,

doesn't it?

What was the problem

with Hymenaeus

and Philetus

back in chapter 2

verses 17 and 18?

It wasn't that

they were full-blown

atheists.

It was that

they were claiming

Jesus plus this

other special revelation

that we've received.

We know that the

resurrection has

already taken place.

We know that

eternal life

in its final form

is attainable

right now.

And they were

leading people astray.

And so I think

what Paul is saying

here is that

even though Timothy

is to be able

to teach,

even though he's

to gently instruct

his opponents

in the hope

that they will repent

and come to

their senses

and come to

a knowledge of the truth,

I think what he's

saying is,

Timothy,

know this.

You can expect

that many,

like them,

in the days ahead

will not.

They will not

repent.

this will be normal.

This will be par

for the course.

There will be

people out there,

there will be people

even in our midst

who are advocating

religious ideas

and claiming

to be devoted

to God.

They're having

a form of religion

but they're

not people

who love God.

And even though

they're gently instructed

and the truth

is shared with them

and they love

to talk about it

and seem like

they're learning,

they will often

oppose,

they will often

resist it.

They will continue

teaching falsehood.

They will continue

living wickedly.

This is what's

going to make

the days ahead

difficult

and troublesome.

One of the things

I noticed

in this list

is just how often

the word love

appears.

People will be

lovers of themselves,

lovers of money.

They'll be without love,

not lovers of the good.

They'll be lovers

lovers of pleasure

rather than

lovers of God.

There's at least

two problems here

with these

religious pretenders.

Love is misdirected

into all these

various things

and also the problem

that love is just

lacking.

Love is misdirected

and love is

lacking.

That's one of the

markers of these

religious pretenders.

They're caught up

in loving the wrong

things.

Loving themselves.

This word

essentially means

selfish.

They just care

mainly about

themselves and

prioritize themselves

above all others.

And they're lovers

of money.

He says,

they cherish money

and the things

it buys.

This is just a

reference to greed.

In fact,

this is probably

one of the easiest

marks of a false

teacher to identify

is a love of money.

The prosperity

preachers of our

day do their best

to hide their

love of money

but it's just

obvious to those

of us who are

true followers

of Jesus.

Why is it that

the TV prosperity

preacher always

ends their episode

or broadcast

with a plea

to support the

ministry financially

and a promise

that God will

bless you if you

do and on and

on and we'll

throw in a free

gift.

And if you

don't give,

if you don't

tithe,

God won't

prosper you.

Don't expect

him to heal

you if you

don't first

sow your

seed of faith

by writing

that check.

They will be

lovers of

money.

And love

is often

misdirected

towards pleasure.

These religious

imposters

will be

lovers of

pleasure

rather than

lovers of

God.

Notice the

contrast here.

Lovers of

pleasure

rather than

lovers of

God.

So it's

not that

they're,

you know,

it's not that

they're just

trying to enjoy

the many

God-given

pleasures of

life,

the good

ones.

No,

they love

pleasure

rather than

loving God.

They are

hedonists.

They're living

for pleasure.

They're just

living to

scratch the

itch of

the flesh

and its

desires,

whatever it

may be.

It doesn't

matter if

the pleasure

is illicit

or immoral.

They'll go

for that

too because

they love

pleasure and

they do

not love

God.

Many of

us were

shocked to

hear in

the past

few years

the full

evidence and

report of

Ravi Zacharias.

Even though

he was a

very prominent

pastor and

ministry leader,

it came out,

came to

light that

he'd been

concealing a

long-term

life of

sexually immoral

behavior,

preying

upon all

kinds of

women,

engaged in

countless

acts of

sexual

immorality.

You can

read the

full report

on Christianity

today.

These were

not occasional

falls into

temptation,

which he

repented of.

He was

constantly,

continually

through this

period,

manipulating

and coercing

women.

He was

making threats

about what

would happen

to them

spiritually if

they didn't

comply with

what he

wanted.

It was

heartbreaking

to read

this.

Notice in

verse 6,

they are

the kind

who are

opportunistically

taking advantage

of women.

It's one of

the marks of

these religious

pretenders.

So we see

these variety

of misdirected

loves.

They will be

marked by

these misdirected

loves.

And we

notice also

that they'll

just be

straight up

people without

love.

See that in

verse 3.

They will be

without love.

They'll be

lacking in

concern for

others.

Cold,

hard,

indifferent.

That's pretty

obvious in

the way that

he was

treating those

women.

How could

you do

that?

Paul says

they will

not be

lovers of

the good.

That's kind

of a funny

phrase in

our language.

It's kind

of the word

good-loving,

but then he

negates it by

putting the

negative particle

on the front.

So they're

like un-good-loving.

They're not

people who

love what

is good.

They're not

generous.

They're not

caring about

the common

good or

the public

good of

others.

Again, a

lack of

love.

They'll be

unforgiving,

he says.

A loving

person forgives.

A loving

person releases

another person

from the

debt that

they owe

you or the

wrongs they've

done to you,

just as Jesus

has done for

us.

But a

person who

lacks love,

they hold a

grudge bitterly.

They refuse to

forgive a

wrong despite

the many

wrongs that

they've done

to others.

And ultimately,

I think we see

here at the

bottom, the

biggest problem,

the massive

problem here is

that a love

for God is

what is lacking.

Lovers of

pleasure rather

than lovers

of God.

They don't

love God.

I mean,

that's shocking

to read right

beside having

a form of

godliness.

Having a

form of

godliness,

but they

don't love

God.

So there's a

variety of

bad fruit that

we see that

will be normal

in the lives

of these people

who have a

form of

godliness,

but deny

its power.

We see the

misdirected

loves,

we see the

lack of

loves,

we see in

some cases

that they'll

just be

straight up

brutal.

Brutal,

slanderous,

treacherous,

disloyal.

And we

only need to

look back in

history to

see how this

has happened

in the name

of God,

in the name

of Jesus.

Things like

the Crusades.

Timothy,

these kinds

of people,

you need to

avoid them.

Have nothing

to do with

them.

Turn away

from them.

If they

don't respond

to that

gentle

instruction

with repentance,

if they

persist in

living wicked

lives like

this,

avoid them.

They're going

to cause

hurt and

harm to

others.

They oppose

the truth.

They are

men of

depraved

minds.

And as

far as

the faith

is concerned,

Paul says,

they're

rejected by

God.

Turn away

from them.

I think

verse 9

is especially

helpful for

us knowing

why Paul is

sharing all

this with

Timothy.

In verse 9

he says,

but they

will not

get very

far,

because as

in the

case of

those men,

their folly

will be

clear to

everyone.

So in

the long

run,

in the

grand scheme

of things,

don't worry

about these

kinds of

people,

these religious

pretenders.

They may

have some

momentum at

the moment.

They may

gain some

following,

their teaching

may spread,

but they

will not

get very

far,

because their

folly will

be clear to

everyone.

This is the

good news when

it comes to

false teachers

and religious

pretenders.

Eventually the

truth comes

out, and

all who belong

to the Lord

truly and

believe in

his name

will see

clearly that

religious

pretenders

and false

teachers are

not true

brothers and

sisters in

the Lord.

The fruit

that's being

produced as

the norm

in their

lives betrays

their profession.

And that's

why I think

Paul writes

all this to

Timothy.

It's so that

he and

us might

know what

are the

marks of

religious

pretenders and

false teachers.

Just as

Paul said

earlier in

the letter

after naming

Hymenaeus and

Philetus back

in chapter 2

verse 19,

everyone who

confesses the

name of the

Lord must

turn away

from wickedness.

Paul's saying,

Timothy, there's

going to be

more like

Hymenaeus and

Philetus in

the days ahead.

What you're

seeing now is

going to happen

a lot.

People will be

having that

outward appearance

of godliness,

but you'll know

that they're

imposters and

pretenders and

crafty deceivers

because they

will be those

who confess the

name of the

Lord, yet do

not turn away

from wickedness.

people who

live in all

manner of

sin.

Ultimately, you'll

know that

they're imposters.

You'll know that

they're pretenders

because you'll see

the foolish and

sinful attitudes and

behaviors that mark

their ways.

It'll be obvious.

The truth will

come out.

Then when you go

and bring that

gentle correction or

instruction to bear

on them, they will

resist it.

They will oppose

it.

They won't

respond.

They won't

change.

And so you, for

your part, at that

point, must turn

away from them and

have nothing to do

with them.

And so I believe

this passage is

here not so much

to help us discern

the times in which

we live, but to

help us discern

the people, the

teachers, the

influencers in

our day.

Are they

genuine or are

they imposters?

Finally, these

words are a good

reminder of how

we are to be

different as true

followers of Jesus,

of how we're to be

set apart and

holy.

I mean, look at

this list, these

descriptions.

It's an awful

description, but now

flip them the other

way around.

This is what the

true follower of

Jesus looks like.

Not a lover of

themselves, but

lover of others.

Not a lover of

money.

Greedy, but

content.

Not boastful and

proud, but humble.

Not ungrateful, but

grateful.

Obeying their

parents.

Holy, loving,

forgiving, speaking

the truth about

others.

Self-controlled,

gentle, loving

what is good.

Loyal, and

ultimately at the

bottom there, loving

God more than

anything else.

may the Lord work

powerfully within

us to make this

so in our lives.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank

you for this

sobering warning,

and we know that

you're coming.

We know, Jesus, that

your return is soon.

You said so in your

word.

Lord, we do look

out at our world

with alarm, and

it is hard to

live in a world

that is full of

these things, and

we know that

before we came to

know you and

believe in your

name and were

saved, we

participated.

And so we

thank you for the

encouragement and

assurance you give

us.

We thank you that

at the end of

everything, those

that you have

called and chosen

will not be

ultimately led

astray and

deceived and

missed the way.

So long as we

keep our eyes on

you, Jesus, and

we ask that you'd

help us to do

that, to stay

fixed on you, to

love you more

than anything else,

more than life

itself.

Do that in us,

we pray, and show

through us your

goodness and your

grace to the world.

In Jesus' name,

amen.