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they will veer off to myths

2 Timothy 4:1-5 (JDV)

2 Timothy 4:1 I seriously warn you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom:
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching
2 Timothy 4:3 because the season will come when people will not tolerate healthy teaching, but according to their own desires, will accumulate teachers for themselves because they are itching to hear what they want to hear.
2 Timothy 4:4 They will turn away from hearing the truth but will veer off to myths.
2 Timothy 4:5 But you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, doing an evangelist’s achievement, accomplish your assistance {διακονία}.

they will veer off to myths

For some time now, Paul has been warning Timothy of the challenging seasons that are coming in the world, and the church. He had warned him that “Hard seasons {καιρός} will be present in the last days” (3:1). In today’s text, he warns that “the season will come when people will not tolerate healthy teaching, but according to their own desires, will accumulate teachers for themselves because they are itching to hear what they want to hear.”

What do the itching ears want to hear? Paul calls them myths. A myth is an explanation of what is based on appearance. A myth is not science. Science records the observable facts.

But what happens when people choose a myth to explain what is going on all around them, and then choose to label that myth as science — even though it cannot be observed. What happens when every book published and every class taught MUST include that teaching, and every opponent MUST be silenced.

We know what happens. We are living in one of the hard seasons Paul described.

Paul’s instruction for Timothy and us is endure the hardship, keep up our self-control, and keep doing what we were called to do.

Lord, give us the courage to continue in spite of the superstition that surrounds us.