Grinning in joyful expectation, I joined the crowd and began cheering for the Medieval Jousters. Full of good-natured dramatics and artful choreography, the horses and actors performed with expert showmanship. But suddenly they introduced a startling plot twist. The evil knight powerfully defeated the noble one. And the crowd around me let out a delighted roar.

Shocked, I reached out to one of the cast members. After complimenting her on the show, I got to my real point, “But I was surprised to see the evil knight win…”

“Oh yeah,” she laughed, “sometimes we do make the noble knight win. We tend to play to the crowd. And in this town, the crowd loves to see the evil knight win.”

I’m sure my mouth was still hanging open when she walked away. In this town… my town? The people love to see evil win. Wait, what? 

My husband and I attended that Renaissance Fair some twenty-five years ago, but its memory still haunts me. Because I learned long ago nothing in this world stands still. Everything moves in a progression. Either we move toward God, or away from Him. It isn’t too much of a leap for me to see that as a society we have continued to move away from Him. Too many people no longer cheer for good to conquer evil, but take delight in evil prevailing over good. This alarms me, saddens me, and at times threatens to overwhelm me.

In his letter to Timothy, Paul describes a similar situation:

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, 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. (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV)

This letter written over 2,000 years ago perfectly describes our culture and world today. Because of this I misunderstood this passage. I believed Paul described society in general. But as I’ve grown in my Bible knowledge, I realize these verses could describe people from any time period. Certainly they describe some societies which existed in Old Testament times. 

I believe Paul wrote about people in the church. People who have a form of godliness, but lack the power to overcome the temptations of the world. In this passage, Paul actually warned Timothy (and us) of the dangers of becoming like the world. Later in his letter, Paul advised Timothy (and us) on how to avoid becoming worldly:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 NIV)

If we continue practicing what we’ve learned, and continue to add to our learning, we can avoid the dangers of becoming like the world. The inspired Word of God will perfectly equip us to understand and follow His will.

No matter where the road leads me next, I don’t want to adopt worldly habits or beliefs. So I pray to faithfully study and apply the Scriptures inspired by the One who leads me. Wherever the road takes you, I pray you can do the same.