RPG Adults
NOT A HEART EXERCISED WITH COVETOUS PRACTICES
LORD’S DAY, JUNE 27
2 Peter 2:1-16
1 Timothy 4:7-8
“…an heart they have exercised with
covetous practices…”
NOT A HEART EXERCISED WITH COVETOUS PRACTICES
The Apostle Peter writes witheringly concerning the “false prophets” and “false teachers” who will come into the church, bringing in “damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them” (2 Pet 2:1). They will “bring upon themselves swift destruction,” but the great danger is that “many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of ” (vv 1-2).
One of their great motives and methods is that of covetousness. “Through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you” (v 3). We see here that these false teachers are driven by covetousness and greed: they want money. Yet they also make use of the same desires in others to manipulate and “make merchandise” of them. This is something we see also all too often today. Prosperity preachers and televangelists typically play on the greed of their audience in order to feed their own greed ‒ they promise that those who send money to them, will be blessed by God with more money. Multitudes are taken in, because they are blinded by their own covetousness.
The Apostle goes on to describe these false teachers as having hearts “exercised with covetous practices” (v 14). What began perhaps as a desire or inkling has been fed and watered; it has been “exercised,” that is, they have trained their hearts in covetousness, the way an athlete trains the body. Yet the only prize that they shall win for all this exercise and training is their own destruction. “The love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim 6:10).
If such a heart of covetousness is found in us then we are vulnerable to deception. The devil and his agents will surely use this inclination to deceive and lead astray. Dear reader, let us examine ourselves! We should much rather practise, train, and exercise our hearts in godliness, than in covetousness; for “godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (1 Tim 4:8).
THOUGHT: How am I exercising my heart?
PRAYER: Father, help me to practise godliness in my life.