#i timothy

[thirdchurchnyc]

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 

I Timothy 6:17

[lenbryant]

Tricky Timothy...

[thedalatribune]

© Paolo Dala

Grace Abounding To The Chief Of Sinners

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

I Timothy 1:15

[haven-for-the-soul]

Follow After, Part 6

"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." — I Timothy 6:11

The final characteristic to study from I Timothy 6:11 is meekness, an important but often misunderstood trait of a Christian's life.

It has been said that "Meekness is not weakness," and how true that is! While some think that meekness is a form of passivity or an act of letting people walk all over you, it's far from the truth.

Meekness can be roughly defined as relinquishing pride to God, and of controlling your strength and channeling it in a way that's beneficial to a greater cause.

One of the best examples of meekness was Jesus Christ Himself. No Christian would ever think that Jesus was weak--but He was definitely meek. He humbled Himself to accomplish God's purposes and to reach people around Him. While He could have said, "I'm God, don't you know that? I can do whatever I want! Listen to me!" He instead behaved Himself wisely and yielded to the Father's will in asserting God instead of Himself as a man.

If there is any doubt how we could be meek, we can look after our greatest example. If we go in the order of the spiritual characteristics listed in I Timothy 6:11, then we will already have God as our role model and we will be fashioning ourselves to be meek just as He is. And then we will have a good foundation for building the rest of our Christian lives on top of these.

[haven-for-the-soul]

Follow After, Part 5

"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." — I Timothy 6:11

One of the hardest things to learn is patience, but it is very important in Christian living as not all things happen immediately or even very quickly.

Perhaps the most effective way to gain experience with patience is to endure a trial. It is not usually when things are easy that we need patience, but when things are hard; and when difficulties occur, we must cling to God and depend on Him to get us through it.

In a sense, we could say that patience is the putting off of one's own self for a greater cause. When we view things in light of God's purposes and of the needs of others, we can become more patient because are not seeking immediate self-fulfillment.

It can be said that love is one of the greatest helps in being patient. After all, when you love someone, it is no problem "putting up" with them and the things that happen along with them being in our lives! If we love God, and we choose to love others, and we are seriously endeavoring to live righteously and as Christ, then we will be able to be patient because we will have the right heart and the right focus to get through it in His time.

The final aspect of a Christian's goals is meekness, and we will cover that tomorrow as we close I Timothy 6:11.

[haven-for-the-soul]

Follow After, Part 4

"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." — I Timothy 6:11

Love is one of the most integral aspects of Christianity, and it is one of the things God wants His people to go after with seriousness.

Contrary to what some think, love is not a feeling. While we may feel many things similar to love or during love, biblical love is most often understood or represented through actions--specifically sacrifice and taking a stand for what we care about the most.

There are two focal points of love in the Bible, and that is firstly God and secondly others. God wants us to love Him first, and He wants us to show that to Him by how we choose to live our lives for Him. Once we put Him as our most important priority and main focus in life, however, He wants us to begin to expand that love to others around us.

We can never do too much for God, and there is never a person who does not need love from either God's people or God Himself. There are times when love does not seem convenient and we don't want to give of ourselves because we are tired or are feeling self-centered, but part of living in the order of righteousness, godliness, and faith means that we have to trust God to have been right when He gave us instructions on how to live, and we must learn to love Him and others even when we don't feel like it.

There is no shame in love. Our relationship with God will only grow stronger, and we will make such a positive difference for Christ and for others when we love other people around us (even when they don't seem to deserve it)! What more could a Christian want to do?

But love will require patience, which is what we will examine in tomorrow's post.

[haven-for-the-soul]

Follow After, Part 3

"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." — I Timothy 6:11

After righteousness and godliness comes faith--and that's one of the most integral parts of Christian life!

Faith can be simply defined as a conscious decision to trust God. It is what allows us to move forward when there is no clear path because we can know that God is still taking care of us.

There are going to be times when the road ahead is unclear. We may know the answers for some things because we are able to look in the Bible and find the answers. There are times when we won't be able to do that, though, and we'll have to rely on what we hear and sense from God in prayer.

When we take a step to live for God righteously and we model our decisions after Him, we open ourselves up to love and please Him and He will come closer to us. The closer He is, and the closer we try to be to God, the easier it will be for us to notice Him and hear Him in our lives. So when we listen and look hard for Him, our faith can then be rewarded. In a sense, that is an act of faith in itself--to openly pursue or look for God, and acknowledging Him when He reveals Himself to us.

Without faith, not only can we not please God, but we cannot live for God. We will have a hard time trying to get by on only our limited and mortal senses. If we are to live Christian lives, we must have faith and put that faith in God and not ourselves; and if we do that, and continue to live for Him, then He has promised that He will come closer to us and be everything we've ever needed--and ever will need.

[haven-for-the-soul]

Follow After, Part 2

"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." — I Timothy 6:11

After righteousness, God wants us to follow after godliness--but what is it?

To be godly would essentially mean to be like God. We want to live our lives in a way that would be similar or exact to how He would; we would adopt His standards as our own; we would try to conform our thinking and our feelings to what He would think and feel; we would try to have the same goals that He does--everything in our lives would be modeled after Him.

Jesus Christ lived as a man for quite a few years, and His life and His Word give us great examples on how we can be like Him. God's thoughts and feelings and purposes are made clear in the Bible and in prayer as we communicate with Him every day of our lives.

Not only we are supposed to aim for righteousness, or what is right, but we also must aim to be like God Who is Right Himself. If we begin to simply consider whether or not God would make the same choices or behave the same way that we did, and we molded our responses and decisions to match Him the best that we could, we would already begin to make major changes and strive for that godliness that He so wants us to pursue.

After godliness comes a more critical and yet difficult aspect of Christianity: faith.