People who are born need to grow

“From Bad to Born Again... Then what?”

(2 Timothy 3:13)

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

… while evil people and impostors

Those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, people like Paul and Timothy, will be persecuted. Some may desire to have a form of godliness, but they deny the power of it, which is only in Christ Jesus. Others seek to enjoy the benefits of a spiritual life as Christians, but they denigrate the desire for holy living. These two groups will not necessarily be persecuted. But those who know that the power for true godliness comes only from Jesus, and who greatly desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus; those men and women will face spiritual opposition.

Some people are evil. We can't deny that. They may think of themselves as very good people, but they are actually impostors. They have seen enough of what Christianity looks like to do a good imitation of the real thing. And such were some of us...

will go on

But not everyone will be born again from above. Not everyone will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Some will go on in the wrong way. They will make progress, but not in the right direction.

from bad to worse,

Instead of going from bad to born again, they will go from bad to worse. They will become more evil, not less. They will become more accomplished imposters.

deceiving and being deceived.

They will deceive others, but they will also deceive themselves.

There have been many people who claimed to be Messiahs. All of them except One have been evil people and imposters. They went from bad to worse. They deceived many and they deceived themselves.

One Man was good – the God-Man. He was never bad.

You and I were not that way. We were bad, and by our own nature we would not have gotten any better. But now we have been made alive in Christ, the Head of the body. In Him we have resurrection. We have been born again from above.

What now?

People who are born need to grow, or there is something very wrong. We need Him. If we have Him, and if we desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, we will become more holy, more humble, less showy, kinder, and generally more fruitful. This is the way that God has for us. We can only achieve that humble greatness by abiding in the Vine.