Friday, December 6: 1Timothy 6- Stuff.

Possibly because I live in the US and travel extensively in developing nations, I see how much I really have compared to many in the world. Just because I see this, doesn’t mean I necessarily do much about it. Verses like 7-8 jump off the page when I read devotionally. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Paul’s picture of faithful living is so far below mine, it is hard for me to truly fathom this. We should be content with food and clothing. What about housing? What about health insurance? What about a nest egg for lean times? Retirement, cable, internet, computers, car, vacations, the list runs on and on. Didn’t Paul have parchments? Beyond his parchments I don’t recall Paul mentioning owning anything else. Other first century church pillars like Barnabas certainly owned land and houses and stuff.

I am not certain how to balance life today with what this and other texts say.

One thing I do know is that it is easy to get sucked into having stuff and my craving for things does create pressure in life. Pressure to maintain my stuff and my status. Pressure when I sense God wants me to give above and beyond and that means I can’t have some stuff.

Reading on Paul makes a poignant follow up point. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (9-10).

Ouch…

Lord, protect me from falling off the cliff of stuff… from sacrificing my life in You on the altar of stuff, possessions, things.

Lord, send Your Holy Spirit to create in me an eagerness for YOU… to know You, to serve You, to live for honoring You above everything else, even the comforts of life that stuff brings.

Praise be to You Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Thursday, December 5: 1Timothy 5- Responsibility for parents.

Some Bible readings give incredibly practical instruction about every day life issues. Paul’s instructions about caring for extended family was one of those moments for me. Paul’s counsel is summed up for me in verse 4, But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.

Being part of the sandwich generation, I know all too well the pressures of raising kids while at the same time caring for aging parents. And these issues are compounded through the mobility of our present age. Distance creates particular hurdles in caring for parents. And yet, the duty and responsibility to care for them is clear.

Lord, help me to honor well my mom and my wife’s parents. It is not only right in Your eyes, it is honoring and loving for them. Although repayment to them for all they have done for me and us, it is a measure of kindness they deserve.

Lord, I pray for people who do not have the affection for their parents that I do. I pray for resolution of interpersonal issues and especially for believers, that Your love will grow in them to overcome the pains of this world in order to live rightly.

Through Jesus, my Lord, I pray. Amen.

 

Wednesday, December 4: 1Timothy 4- Set an example.

Lord, where will You take me this morning? What treasures from Your Word do You have for me today?

With this simple prayer I began my morning with the Lord. It didn’t take long for my heart to settle on the latter half of verse 12, set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

How I live matters not only to me, but also to those who are watching me. And some of those who watch me are other believers. My first thought was that Timothy was a church leader, so naturally this is true. But as I sat with this thought, I recognized that it was also true for all of us who follow Christ.

For example, as a parent, our children watch and emulate us.  Children are watching our faith and how we live out what we say and what we believe. This could probably be expanded to grandkids and even aunts and uncles, depending upon ones’ connection with extended family.

Friends watch us and pay attention to how we live. Although they may not be directly influenced by our living, they certainly are affected to some degree. So how we live, what we suggest and do with our friends, makes Kingdom differences.

And so the circle grows, co-workers, neighbors and the like. We influence the Christians in these circles by how we live, especially Christians who are younger in the Lord.

As God sharpens the focus on me and my life this morning, the different guys in my small-group come to mind, as do my children. They are watching me. It matters for them how I live, because I am an example of a Christ-follower…

Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

Lord, I pray that my day in and day out living not only honors You, but that it is also an example to other believers and non-believers in my life. All to Your honor and glory, I pray. Amen.

 

Tuesday, December 3: 1Timothy 3- Conduct becoming of a Christ-follower.

I have always thought that the descriptions Paul gives for the life and character of elders and deacons in this chapter was simply so that the church would choose worthy elders and deacons. Certainly this is true, but as I read today I noticed that there is more to it than that.

Paul follows the descriptions of elders and deacons with these words, … I am writing you these instructions so that … you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth (14-15). The characteristics of worthy elders and deacons was to be an example for all the church. Everyone was to emulate and strive toward these characteristics. It is quite a list (see verse 2-10):

·         be above reproach,

·         the husband of but one wife,

·         temperate,

·         self-controlled,

·         respectable,

·         hospitable,

·         able to teach,

·         not given to drunkenness,

·         not violent but gentle,

·         not quarrelsome,

·         not a lover of money,

·         manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.

·         have a good reputation with outsiders,

·         worthy of respect,

·         sincere,

·         not indulging in much wine,

·         not pursuing dishonest gain

·         not malicious talkers

·         trustworthy in everything.

I reviewed this list, asking myself how I was doing in these areas.

The light of God’s Word regularly reveals blemishes in my life…

Lord, I thank You for the progress and growth my life shows since the days I first began following You. And yet, I have a long way to go. I have not nearly arrived.

Please grant me grace and forbearance to keep striving and working  and inviting You into deeper places of my life. So that my life will more and more reflect Your likeness and Your glory, that You might receive all honor and glory, I pray. Amen.

 

 

Monday, December 2: 1Timothy 2- the gift of Jesus.

… God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time (3-6).

I find it good for my soul to ponder our salvation and how far God went to provide for our salvation. Jesus came to earth in order to become the ransom for all men and women.

I marvel that Jesus came to pay our ransom. It blows my mind that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, became a human so that He could be our ransom. Jesus took on the penalty for my sins (and your sins); Jesus did that for you and me.

I sat and thought about this…

Jesus did it because it was the only way we could come back into God’s good graces.

Jesus did it for you and me… that I realized was love!

Oh how he loves you and me. Oh how he loves you and me. He gave his life, what more can I say. Oh how he loves me, oh how he loves you. Oh how he loves you and me…

Thank You, Jesus. Thank You. Amen.

 

Saturday, November 30: 1Timothy 1-.

Lately, I have been thinking about the rescuing heart of God, which desires to help the poor, alien, downtrodden, orphan widow, etc. But also God’s heart, which seeks to save the lost. A heart who sends a prophet like Jonah to a corrupt people so that they might repent. Our God who sends His Son to a lost and rebellious people so that people from every tribe and nation might be born again into God’s family. It’s been a pretty rich few days as I ponder and chew on this aspect of God.

Then today I read Paul who gives a rescued-person’s account of this God. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen (15-17).

Paul personally understands the rescuing heart of God. He, the ‘worst of sinners’ by his own account, was pursued and shown mercy so that he might believe. Paul’s personal story got me thinking about my story. I don’t know why but God pursued me, too. Looking back I can see a number of times God came knocking on the door of my life. Oh, for a moment I might sort of believe, but it would fade in minutes or hours. But God kept knocking until one day in a hotel room in Muhlenberg, PA, I finally surrendered to the Hound of Heaven.

Paul’s account reminds me my salvation has little to do with me seeking God, but everything about God seeking a lost person named Bill.

And like Paul, I find my only response is praise…

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen

 

Friday, November 29 Deuteronomy 34- Ending well.

Verse 5: And Moses the servant of the LORD died…

Life has two great poles, birth and death. None of us will escape death. Even the greatest among us die.

This scene sparked many thoughts… the inevitability and simplicity of Moses death. Yes, Israel mourned for Moses 30-days, as was their custom, but beyond that there was no particular fanfare. They didn’t even memorialize his burial place. No gigantic monument or bronze plaque. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; Moses was buried like anyone else.

There is something poetic in this picture. Moses, the humblest man on the earth, was buried in the most humble of ways. God was his reward, not the accolades of the people or the size of his tomb. What a contrast from the Pharaohs, whom he once served, buried in elaborate pyramids. Marvels of human architecture –absolutely!- but still tombs. And the tomb is never the measure of the man or woman. Never.

I traveled down another roadway of meditation set in motion by the description of Moses in verse 5. Moses the servant of the LORD… this is how he was known. Servant, slave of the Lord. I began wondering what people might say of me when my day comes. Moreover, I wondered if the character of my life will give honor to my Lord, as Moses’ did his Lord.

Frank Sinatra… “I did it my way”

Mohammad Ali… “The greatest”

What will people say of me? And will it honor my Savior and God?

As I wrote this, I realized that I am writing my epitaph every day of my life. If my life honors ME… then it will reflect ME. If my life honors my Lord every day… then my epitaph will honor God.

Moses earned his epitaph through 40 years of obscurity, shepherding flocks followed by 40 years of selfless service of Yahweh, shepherding God’s people. Hmmm, there is a word to you and me in this.

Lord, I choose to live for You today and all of my todays from this day until You choose to bring me home to You. May my life count for You. May any good I do give You honor and praise. May anything less than good I do reveal Your mercy and grace to a sinner such as I. I pray this through my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.