Day 263: Ecclesiastes 7-9; 2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Recently I listened to a politician quoting Scripture to support her 'call' to serve. Much of her career, which is on the record, has been in defiance of God's Word. All my readings this morning have challenged me to beware of those who make their religion based on common opinion or what suits the pleasure of humanity. "Commonplace religion is pleasing to the flesh and blood. There is no self-denial in it...Others are living on a low plane, on a compromising level, as the world lives" (E.M. Bounds). He asks the ultimate question: Are they going to heaven? Writes the preacher: "Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil." (Ecclesiastes 8:11, CSB). In the end, he states, it will go well for the one who lives in reverence toward God; however, it will not go well for the wicked (vv.12-13). Paul agrees about those who live to deceive the church from within. He calls them 'false apostles' who serve and imitate Satan who parades as an angel of light. "Their end will be according to their works" (2 Corinthians 11:15).

Recently I have been disappointed that some I have known for a long time have changed their theology, their whole belief system, based on circumstances. Today I have been reminded that the race is not to the swift, but to the ones who endure to the end (as a friend said, they are 'spiritual marathon-runners'). Stay the course! Stand on the Word! It is worth it!