Monday, May 7, 2018
But people
who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and
harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all
kinds of evil. And some people, craving
money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many
sorrows. But you, Timothy, are a man of
God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue
righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and
gentleness. Fight the good fight for the
true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal
life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many
witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:9-12(NLT)
I’ve never particularly
enjoyed running just for the sake of running.
I did run years ago as part of a weight-loss regimen, but that was
torture! On the other hand, if you put a
ball in my hand to bounce while I’m running, jumping, and scoring….we call it
basketball, and that’s fun! Spiritual
running can also be torturous, and immensely rewarding.
Timothy was a
young pastor, and his mentor, Paul, encouraged him in two directions; he was to
dodge and pursue. Of course the things
the young man were to dodge are a shopping list of human cravings, the evil
that leads to the moral failure so common to humankind. And then, every time you’re running
away from something, you’re also running towards
something else. Paul told Timothy he
needed not just to run from evil, but to PURSUE righteousness…a godly
life.
Then the apostle
got really specific:
Faith – Love – Perseverance - Gentleness
Each of these
attributes (by Scriptural definition) touch another word: character!
Faith places us in someone else’s hands; a Christian dedicates his life to God’s
leading.
Love is allowing the character of God to seep into his own bone, marrow and
flesh to live the life of God for the sake of others.
Perseverance is that “hang-in-there” quality that doesn’t give up on others.
Gentleness is tied to the patience we must have to encourage the weak or troubled
spirit of another person.
This four-fold running
plan, to lose the weight of evil and develop muscles of righteous living,
requires attention to learning God’s ways, above all through the study of God’s
Word and prayer. One of the chiefest
reasons I chose to begin writing these daily devotionals was to encourage just
that – a daily embrace of truth for the nourishment of godliness in our lives.
My bride developed
a substantial pain in her foot. When she
couldn’t stand it any longer she went to the podiatrist, who told her she had a
mechanics
problem. The way she walked was
different than the way God created her to walk.
The answer was a mechanical treatment – better shoes to support walking
correctly.
Spiritually-speaking,
if our mechanics is off in faith, love, perseverance or gentleness, we cannot
walk the way God desires; we walk crooked…sinfully. And, in those moments of discovery, it is
time to turn around, straighten-out the path, and walk the way we’ve been
called; it’s time to dodge and pursue!
For You Today
Are you dodging
and pursuing?
You chew on that as you hit the
Rocky Road; have a blessed day.
No comments:
Post a Comment