Still breathing.

Moses put it plainly: life or death, blessing or cursing, and the choice is ours (Deuteronomy 30:19). Paul says that urgency is for now: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Not tomorrow, because “you do not know what will happen tomorrow” (James 4:14). So “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6).

Paul told Timothy what people would look like in the last days (2 Timothy 3:1–5). Nineteen marks. Don’t read them as a weapon for the person next to you. Read them as a mirror: “Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord” (Lamentations 3:40). “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Mark each one honestly: yes, sometimes, or no. Nobody needs to see your answers.

The list ends with its sharpest line: “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). A Bible on the shelf, a verse in the bio, a nod in church, and a different life when no one is watching. God has seen this before: “these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me” (Isaiah 29:13). “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him” (Titus 1:16). Read that last one twice.

A list like this could crush you. It isn’t meant to. After the warning, Paul turns to Timothy: “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of” (2 Timothy 3:14). Scripture is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). And what does God expect from you? “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

Three moves this week: circle the two marks you can’t honestly say no to, confess them (“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” 1 John 1:9), and change one thing before the weekend. “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).