In these last days, perilous times of great stress and trouble will come, marked by a dominant characteristic of self-love. This self-love fosters a greedy, covetous, and arrogant attitude prevalent in society, where true affection has nearly vanished, replaced by unnatural affection. We live in a reckless, self-destructive culture of death, surrounded by sin, which is the most stressful of all things. A major challenge in facing these times is resisting and overcoming the human tendency to be 'lovers of self' in a narcissistic society, which affects even members of God's church, though we are strengthened by Him to resist. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, vividly describes this societal condition and its influence on the church, warning that in the last days, men will be 'lovers of themselves,' prioritizing self over God. This misdirected love leads them to be 'lovers of money' and 'lovers of pleasure' rather than 'lovers of God.' Such self-centeredness results in pride, arrogance, and abusiveness, manifesting as boasting, haughtiness, and slander. It disrupts family life, showing disobedience to parents, ingratitude, irreverence, heartlessness, and implacability. Beyond the family, these individuals are slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, and haughty, all stemming from a godless self-centeredness. The root of trouble in these times of stress lies in people being utterly self-centered, reversing God's order of love by placing self first and God last, causing neighbors to suffer. Only through the inspired word of God can this be transformed, offering a radical solution by reorienting us to be God-centered, loving humankind as He does, and seeking to give and serve like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our Father. In contrast to this self-love, Paul urges Timothy to stand firm against the prevailing societal direction, to be different, and to follow a standard of godliness, even amidst inevitable persecution for those who live a godly life in Christ Jesus. We must replace self-centered love with God-centered love, striving first and foremost to be 'lovers of God.'

The attitude of being "lovers of themselves" occupies the first position in Paul's catalog of perilous last-day behaviors recorded in II Timothy 3:1-5, and it functions as the root cause underlying all the other attitudes that follow in the list—lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, and the rest. This self-centeredness, also describable as selfishness or self-absorption, manifests concretely in Generation X, known variously as the Baby Busters, the 13th Generation, or the MTV Generation—those born between 1961 and 1981 according to researchers Neil Howe and Bill Strauss in their book 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? This self-love expresses itself through multiple facets of personal appearance and behavior: extreme fashion choices ranging from grunge to designer labels, body sculpting through steroid use or through anorexia and bulimia, and body modification through piercings and tattoos in numerous locations. Perhaps most tragically, this self-centeredness manifests in a soaring suicide rate, since suicide itself represents the ultimate self-centered act. Statistics reveal that ten percent of adolescent boys and eighteen percent of adolescent girls admit to attempting suicide, with one million succeeding. A line from the film Heathers, a movie associated with this generation, captures this mindset chillingly: "Whether to kill yourself or not is one of the most important decisions a teenager can make." This foundational self-love connects directly to the broader argument that contemporary youth attitudes serve as identifiable signs of the last days, paralleling the function that wars, famines, and disease serve as signs in Matthew 24 and Revelation 6. Unlike those more impersonal global signs, the attitudes Paul describes can be observed closely in one's own family and community, making them a more immediate gauge of how deeply society has entered the last days. Paul's introductory phrase "know this" signals the importance of recognizing these attitudes, and his concluding instruction to "turn away" from such people underscores the seriousness of the warning. The broader message built upon this foundation calls for self-examination within God's own church, since worldly attitudes—including self-centeredness—may have influenced families within the congregation more than is comfortable to admit. Recognizing self-love as a defining mark of the present age serves as a call to repentance, urging believers to build character capable of enduring the coming Great Tribulation rather than succumbing to the self-absorbed patterns so visible in the surrounding culture.

Being a "lover of self" stands at the head of Paul's catalog of end-time traits in II Timothy 3:1-2, and it serves as the root explanation for the widespread discourtesy observed in modern society. When self-love becomes a person's foundational orientation, that individual comes to view himself as perpetually right and deserving of first place—entitled, in effect, to "the left lane" of life, regardless of how that affects others. This self-centeredness stands in direct opposition to humility, making genuine courtesy impossible, since courtesy requires considering others as more important than oneself, as Paul instructs in Philippians 2:3. Paul's fuller description in II Timothy 3:2-5 (Contemporary English Version) lists traits flowing directly from this self-love: people become proud, stuck-up, rude, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, godless, heartless, hateful, cruel in speech, lacking self-control and pity, haters of good, sneaky, reckless, and puffed up with pride—loving pleasure rather than God while maintaining only an outward show of religion. Each of these characteristics represents a breakdown of the courteous, others-centered behavior God desires, and Paul explicitly instructs that such people are to be avoided. This diagnosis connects to a broader cultural observation that society—whether in American driving habits, Beijing's manners campaign, or the simple failure to say "thank you" or give up a seat for an elder—has coarsened because people no longer esteem others above themselves. Part of the blame is placed on an educational system that has emphasized self-esteem and personal specialness without corresponding substance, producing adults who feel entitled to whatever comes their way. Yet the deeper cause is spiritual: society's drift from God correlates directly with its drift from courtesy. The remedy is framed as fundamentally biblical rather than merely social. Jesus' Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12 summarizes the Law and the Prophets: treating others as one wishes to be treated would naturally produce courteous behavior and revive something like the old code of chivalry. Leviticus 19:32 commands respect for the elderly, and Titus 3:2 instructs believers to show "perfect courtesy to everyone," rooted in the Greek word praiotes, meaning meekness or humility. Likewise, I Peter 3:8 employs the rare term philophron—meaning friendly, kind, or courteous—as the capstone of Peter's instructions on how believers should relate to one another with compassion, unity, and brotherly love. Ultimately, self-love is presented as the opposite of the humble, God-fearing disposition that produces courtesy naturally. A person striving to live according to God's law and esteeming others above self will exhibit politeness as a natural fruit of that humility. While small acts like saying "please" and "thank you" will not alone secure entrance into God's Kingdom, they represent a necessary starting point, and the absence of such basic courtesy—rooted in self-love—is treated as a serious spiritual failing with eternal consequences for one's reward.

The warning concerning being "lovers of self" arises directly from Paul's description of the perilous last days in II Timothy 3, where men become lovers of themselves and their own ways rather than lovers of God. This self-love is not presented as an abstract future problem but as a present reality already shaping every member within the Body of Christ, formed by the circumstantial development of each person's life experiences, background, and worldview. These experiences—whether seemingly good or bad—produce opinions and perspectives that feel justified because they are rooted in personal history, yet they are ultimately fruits of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil rather than submission to God's Word. This self-centered nature is illustrated through the account of a church member who nearly disrupted a Spokesmen's Club meeting by passionately defending labor unions based on his own beneficial experience, revealing how deeply personal circumstances can provoke division even among called-out believers. Such attachment to one's own formed opinions, even on seemingly neutral worldly matters, becomes dangerous when it hardens into "my way or the highway," threatening unity within God's household. Satan, described as the accuser of the brethren who has deceived the whole world, exploits these self-centered cracks to divide and conquer within the Body of Christ. The rich young ruler in Matthew 19 serves as a parallel example, expanded beyond literal wealth to include intangible "riches"—opinions, habits of thought, and emotional attachments carried over from worldly life. Just as the young man could not surrender his possessions to follow Christ, believers must be willing to surrender these internalized, self-centered convictions, even when they seem good or reasonable, for the sake of unity and inheritance in God's Kingdom. Gary's example of removing his wedding ring before the congregation embodies this costly surrender of self for the sake of God's calling. The remedy to this self-love is humility and other-centered love, as shown in Philippians 2, where believers are called to esteem others above themselves after the pattern of Christ's own self-emptying humility. Christ's washing of the disciples' feet in John 13 establishes the standard of selfless love that must replace self-love, with love for one another serving as the defining mark of discipleship. First Peter 5 reinforces this by commanding submission to one another and humility under God's hand, since God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Ultimately, the danger of lovers of self lies in its power to "trouble" God's household, as Proverbs 11:29 warns, resulting in forfeiting one's inheritance altogether. The call is therefore to overcome self-formed, circumstantially shaped identity through meekness, humility, and sacrificial love, so that the diverse members of Christ's Body—regardless of background—may be fitly joined together rather than divided by self-love in these perilous days.

The theme of being "lovers of self" emerges within a broader discussion of human corruption and the necessity of Christian works, drawn from Paul's warning in II Timothy 3:1-5 that in perilous times, "men will be lovers of themselves," followed by a cascade of eighteen related vices including love of money, pride, blasphemy, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. This self-love is identified as the wellspring from which all the subsequent sinful traits flow, rooted in the same deceitful heart Paul describes battling against in Romans 7. William Barclay's observation reinforces this point: love of self is the basic sin from which all others flow, since making one's own will the center of life destroys both divine and human relationships, rendering obedience to God and charity toward others impossible. True Christianity, by contrast, requires not the enthronement but the obliteration of self. This self-centeredness is not merely a worldly phenomenon but exists within the church itself, since all believers emerge from a world that nurtures these characteristics, and none have yet fully overcome them. Paul's instruction that Timothy "turn away" from such people was meant for immediate application, suggesting that the peril he describes ebbs and flows like waves rather than remaining constant, though it intensifies as the end approaches, paralleling the days of Noah when "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Importantly, not every individual expresses all these traits simultaneously; rather, each trait exists in some measure within every person's deceitful heart, varying in intensity from person to person. The real danger to church members is not physical harm but being drawn into expressing these same sinful attitudes prevalent in the surrounding culture. This love of self manifests concretely in contemporary religious movements that call themselves Christian yet make self-love their very essence, becoming popular and drawing large congregations precisely because they emphasize tolerance and smooth over the vileness of sin and the need for repentance. Such groups avoid teaching essential doctrines, deeming them divisive, when in truth these doctrines rightly divide Christians from the world while uniting them with God. Deceived believers in these settings mistake friendliness, entertaining music, or numerical growth for evidence of God's blessing, forgetting that Christ described His true church as a "little flock," not a large one. Ultimately, this self-love is traced back to the deceitful and desperately wicked heart described in Jeremiah 17:9, which is incurably self-centered, self-absorbed, and narcissistic, convincing a person he is better than he actually is. Because the two great commandments require loving God with all one's heart, soul, and mind, and loving neighbor as oneself, a heart dominated by self-love cannot consistently obey either command. This makes self-love directly incompatible with the character God is forming in His Family Kingdom, since no character of value to that Kingdom can be created in someone whose heart remains governed by self-interest rather than love for God and others.

The characteristic of being "lovers of themselves," drawn from Paul's warning in II Timothy 3:1-5 about perilous times in the last days, is identified as the foundational trait underlying all the other negative attitudes Paul lists, and it is examined through the lens of Generation X, also called the 13ers, the baby busters, or the thirteenth generation since America's founding fathers, encompassing those born between 1961 and 1981. This generation is described as the most pampered in history, largely because their parents, the wealthiest and busiest generation ever, attempted to compensate for their absence by lavishing children with gifts, clothing, cars, and technology rather than time, producing a self-centered, self-absorbed culture. This self-love manifests in several visible ways. It appears first in an obsession with appearance and clothing, from designer labels and name-brand shoes to grunge, gang-inspired, or retro styles, all serving as extensions of personal identity. It extends to an intense focus on body image, including bodybuilding and steroid use on one extreme and anorexia and bulimia on the other, alongside widespread body piercing and tattooing as further expressions of self-focus. Tragically, this self-centeredness is also linked to an alarmingly high suicide rate among this generation, since suicide is portrayed as an ultimately self-absorbed act that disregards its impact on others; statistics cited show a significant percentage of adolescents attempting suicide and a dramatic rise in psychiatric hospitalizations for youth during this period. This discussion of self-love is placed within a larger argument proving that the current era constitutes the biblical "last days." Paul's prophecy that perilous times would come, marked by people being lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, and proud, is treated as one of several confirming signs—alongside the capacity for global nuclear annihilation since 1945 and the generational framework drawn from Christ's statement that "this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place." The self-love evident in Generation X is thus not an isolated cultural observation but a fulfillment of apostolic warning, demonstrating that the attitudes Paul described nearly two thousand years ago are now visibly present in society. The broader purpose of identifying this trait is not to condemn a particular generation but to soberly assess the spiritual condition of the present age in light of the approaching Day of Trumpets, which signifies Christ's return. Recognizing self-love and its accompanying behaviors as fulfillment of prophecy reinforces the urgency of repentance. Just as Christ warned the healed man at the pool to "sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you," and as the messages to the seven churches in Revelation repeatedly call for repentance, the pervasive self-centeredness of this generation serves as a mirror calling believers to examine whether such attitudes have crept into their own hearts. The ultimate connection drawn is that self-love, left unchecked, leads to greater trials—whether the Great Tribulation or the Lake of Fire—making repentance and turning back to God the necessary response in light of how near Christ's return truly is.