The next issue that Selwyn discusses is to keep our commission free from stain.
I think one of the key statements made by Selwyn is: “It is not enough that we draw our life from God; we are to witness to the fact that our life comes from Him and live it out in the face of any and all obstructions.”
Selwyn has chosen Paul’s first letter to Timothy 6:11-21, as the text for today’s reading and meditation.
After having read the material, I’ve picked these verses to talk about - 1 Timothy 6:9-12 (NLT): ” … 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 confessed so well before many witnesses. … “
I think a lot of people reading today’s study would say that they usually live their lives free from the stain of habitual sin. Yet, for those of us, who live in a western style culture, the common threat is the desire to be rich – it’s a threat because we can be so easily seduced by sugar-coated justifications, for example: ‘Well, if I was rich I could fund a lot of church ministries, or I could give generously to disaster relief.’
It is when we start looking at money as a possible solution to help God out, that we start to take our eyes off what God is calling us to do; and we start to substitute our own plans, for God’s plan.
The second area I would like to point out is that Paul is encouraging Timothy to pursue righteousness and a godly life. Paul uses a number of verbs, which spell out ‘action’ – to pursue, to fight, to hold tightly; I think too often we like to sit in our chairs/pews and wait for righteousness and the godly life to fall into our laps. These qualities never come to us; we, by our actions must go out into this world – following Jesus and be witnesses to all, just as Jesus was before Pilate – testifying to the truth.
Free from stain
The next issue that Selwyn discusses is to keep our commission free from stain.
I think one of the key statements made by Selwyn is: “It is not enough that we draw our life from God; we are to witness to the fact that our life comes from Him and live it out in the face of any and all obstructions.”
Selwyn has chosen Paul’s first letter to Timothy 6:11-21, as the text for today’s reading and meditation.
After having read the material, I’ve picked these verses to talk about - 1 Timothy 6:9-12 (NLT): ” … 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 confessed so well before many witnesses. … “
I think a lot of people reading today’s study would say that they usually live their lives free from the stain of habitual sin. Yet, for those of us, who live in a western style culture, the common threat is the desire to be rich – it’s a threat because we can be so easily seduced by sugar-coated justifications, for example: ‘Well, if I was rich I could fund a lot of church ministries, or I could give generously to disaster relief.’
It is when we start looking at money as a possible solution to help God out, that we start to take our eyes off what God is calling us to do; and we start to substitute our own plans, for God’s plan.
The second area I would like to point out is that Paul is encouraging Timothy to pursue righteousness and a godly life. Paul uses a number of verbs, which spell out ‘action’ – to pursue, to fight, to hold tightly; I think too often we like to sit in our chairs/pews and wait for righteousness and the godly life to fall into our laps. These qualities never come to us; we, by our actions must go out into this world – following Jesus and be witnesses to all, just as Jesus was before Pilate – testifying to the truth.
What do you think?