"In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following." 1 Timothy 4:6
I like this verse. I like it because of the phrase "nourished on the words of the faith." That's how I feel when I read God's Word. Nourished. Filled. Supplied. Enriched. These few chapters in 1 Timothy set straight some wrong thinking I had on a few topics. For instance, in v. 14, Paul specifically instructs Timothy to pay attention to the spiritual gift that he'd been given--not to "neglect" it. I found that interesting, only because I don't often pay attention to or intentionally give thought to my spiritual gift. How would this alter the way I live? I'll have to think more on this.
Also, he continues in vs. 15 and 16, saying, "take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to all" and "pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching"...which strikes me, as a Christ-bearer, to pay close attention, to give much thought and energy to evaluating the things that I teach others about God, to be careful, thoughtful, deliberate in how I portray Him to my children, to fellow believers, and to those who don't yet know Him.
Another interesting tidbit, was the instruction to publicly rebuke an elder who continues in sin, after having been exhorted (v. 20). When was the last time you heard an elder of the church publicly rebuked??? Don't get me wrong, it shouldn't be a regular occurance, but I can only think of one time in all of my years of being in church that I ever heard a Christ-follower rebuked in the presence of all. Am I alone in this? It causes me to wonder about our present culture, our generation, and particularly me, that has been plagued by a fear of people, of "offending", of "judging". Does this stem from a fear of being judged? Perhaps. But we are instructed to exhort our fellow believers to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. Or does this lack of correction stem from a fear of man, from a desire to be liked? I hear Proverbs 29:25 in my mind, "fearing people is a dangerous trap; but to trust the Lord means safety."
Lord, may I trust and fear You only.
I don't know why I felt compelled to write this down today, except that the Holy Spirit prompted me. Hopefully someone will be encouraged.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Me, me! I was encouraged! :) Thank you, friend!! Love your thoughts! Thank you for following the prompting in your heart to share these things! :) I was blessed by them.
Those are some really interesting thoughts... I especially like the one about rebuking. Oh the accountability that would take place, I think. Mark and I talked about this point for a little bit - makes me wonder, again and again I wonder this, how close is today's church to the church that Christ had in mind for us?
interesting!! :) what would you say is your spiritual gift, Lolly? You talked about not using it as much as you want, but you didn't say what it is ... :)
I think the verse about rebuking is challenging ... most people i know in the church follow the biblical principal, bring it before your brother, and if he doens't repent, bring it before the elders. So I'm just thinking out loud about the differences in the two?
love you friend. are you coming this way for the holidays?
Post a Comment