After looking at the section of Scripture, now it is time to look at our hearts and see how we compare.The goal of the message that Timothy is to pass on is one of Love. Love “which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” That doesn’t sound like my attitude. How about yours?
How have you thought or acted like these false teachers this
week? What have you shown to be more important than Christ’s love? Trying to
look good? Trying to get what you want?
Trying to be comfortable? Or what else?
What is one way that God has worked to nurture your heart,
conscience, and faith to love?
I guess as I read this I realize that my motivations for even many of the good things that I do are not pure. There is a sinful desire for self-happiness in a lot of what I do. Timothy is being told to correct some wrong behavior. and there are definitely people in my life that I have been too scared to correct, because of my own selfishness.
ReplyDeleteOne way that God knocks me out of my selfish mode of thinking is when he puts real people with real problems in front of me. In those moments when I get to be a listening ear, a trusted counselor, and a Spiritual support, my selfishness fades away, and that person's faith becomes the priority.
Thanks to God for those moments.
This book has become a lot more important to me in the last couple of weeks. We just started studying 1 timothy in religion last week, and one thing I never knew is that timothy was a really young guy, not much older than us. He was called to lead a church but the principals still apply to us today. One thing I struggle with is having my talk filled with love. Often times I find my speech to be "meaningless" like paul says in verse 7.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Ross. That's one of the reasons I picked this book to share. I think there are a lot of practical things we can learn from Paul and Timothy's relationship. Having a "Spiritual Father" like Paul as a mentor is pretty great picture.
ReplyDeleteJust as you said Joel, I am sometimes selfish when I try not to be. For example, if someone is swearing and I don't say anything because they might look at weird, I'm being selfish. And I shouldn't care about what they think since I am spread in God's word. Also, when I am do acts of kindness, I sometimes think what am I going to get in return for this. I really try to do genuine acts of kindness and love. But I thank God that he doesn't think in the selfish ways that I sometimes do.
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