“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.

But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]. 2 For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane. 3 [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. 4 [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God. 5 For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them]. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 AMP

This segment of scripture talks about four things that people love. Three of them are unhealthy and detrimental to your spiritual, physical and emotional well-being; and only one of them is healthy, good, productive and blessed. There are people who are lovers of self, lovers of money and lovers of sensual pleasures; and then there are those who are lovers of God. If you truly love God, you can’t love these other things. If you love these things, then you are not a lover of God!

Lovers of self:

Lovers of self are selfish and self-centered. The Bible says that they are disobedient to parents, abusive, blasphemous, scoffing, ungrateful, unholy, and profane. They are without natural, human affection, callous and inhuman, relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement), slanderers, false accusers and troublemakers, treacherous betrayers, rash, and inflated with self-conceit. They are self-willed, arrogant and presumptuous. Because they are so selfish and self-centered, they do not care for others – for their feelings, their well-being, or even their life. Selfishness brings strife and division and also cruelty and cruel acts.

But by your callous stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are storing up wrath and indignation for yourself on the day of wrath and indignation, when God’s righteous judgment (just doom) will be revealed. 6 For He will render to every man according to his works [justly, as his deeds deserve]: 7 To those who by patient persistence in well-doing [springing from piety] seek [unseen but sure] glory and honor and [the eternal blessedness of] immortality, He will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and self-willed and disobedient to the Truth but responsive to wickedness, there will be indignation and wrath. Romans 2:5-8 AMP

Lovers of money:

Lovers of money are covetous and greedy. They are aroused by an inordinate, greedy desire for wealth, and are proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:24 that we have to make a choice between God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in). You cannot serve both.

For the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute [mental] pangs. 1 Timothy 6:10AMP

The love of money will harm and destroy the one who loves it and other people as well. The Pharisees were all pious on the outside, but they were covetous and lovers of money on the inside. They opposed Jesus, not because He was wrong, but because their hearts were turned away from God because of greed and arrogance (Luke 16:14-15). Hebrews 13:5 AMP tells us: “Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]” – because God will never fail you nor let you down!

Lovers of sensual pleasures:

Lovers of sensual pleasures are addicted to pleasure. The more they get, the more they want and yet, they are never satisfied! The Bible describes them as intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. They are lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.

In James 5:1-5, James rebukes the people who are rich and trust only in their riches and he tells them in verse 5 (AMP); “Here on earth you have abandoned yourselves to soft (prodigal) living and to [the pleasures of] self-indulgence and self-gratification. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” And Jesus warned us in Luke 21:34 NKJV: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.”

[Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is [when you get what you desire] to spend it in sensual pleasures. 4 You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. James 4:3-4 AMP

Lovers of God:

Lovers of God submit to Him – His Word and His Spirit – and they walk in newness of life and in obedience to Him in every aspect of their lives.

So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God). Colossians 3:5 AMP

For the grace of God (His unmerited favor and blessing) has come forward (appeared) for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind. 12 It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness (irreligion) and worldly (passionate) desires, to live discreet (temperate, self-controlled), upright, devout (spiritually whole) lives in this present world, 13 Awaiting and looking for the [fulfillment, the realization of our] blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). Titus 2:11-13 AMP