DAILY GUIDE DEVOTIONAL: Pursue Things of Eternal Value

 

Text: 1 Timothy 6:11-21

Paul's charge to Timothy was stringent, clear and solemn. Today he summarizes this instruction. He was according to verse 1-2  to "flee these things'. And those things were mentioned in previous lessons, particularly, the love of money. He wasn't to negotiate with such perverse false teachers who promote ungodly and selfish gain as the reason for serving God, rather to stay far away from such. He was to go ahead and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love patience, meekness. Most interestingly, he was to "fight the good fight of faith"

And this call to fight the good fight of faith is what each of us have been called to do. The fight between good and evil to which every man must choose his side, had been on, even before time began By God's divine mercy and grace we are part of the elect who have been ordained to fight on the side of truth. But we know that nature had disadvantaged us for this fight. The natural man having come first poses a lot of impediments to the spiritual which we obtained later by God's spirit. Hence, there is constant war within and without. 

Paul is well aware of these hindrances so he warns that focus is needed by the man of God. That having professed a good profession before many witnesses; in other words; having publicly declared for Jesus through our baptism and attestation to the faith, we must keep God's commandment without spot, unrebukable, unblamable and irreprovable, unto the appearing of our lord JESUS.  Timothy "must keep that which is committed to his trust". We must aim to be like Christ who before Pilate stood as a good witness to the faith he professed. We must carry this charge with us everywhere we go, living our lives daily on this premise; that we have been called to a separate life different from what obtains all around us. And for this Paul asked that grace be with Timothy (v21). For without this daily grace no man can prevail. On our own we stand no chance against the wiles of Satan and traps of the world. But Grace of God makes the journey possible and we keep moving from one grace to grace. 

In verses 17-19, the rich among us must not allow money to derail nor disqualify them from the race. They must take care to ensure they are not ensnared by the rat race of money making and loose focus of what they have been called into. Hence, they should be rich towards God by deliberating devoting more of their substance to gaining treasures imperishable through good works in the household of faith. This should be our number one priority in every pursuit of money yielding activities; to have enough to contribute towards our common cause in every area of need. Getting wealth for the sake of enjoyment or good of your family alone is a misplaced priority and out of range for every believer. When we follow this principle we can never fall into the error of the money trap because whatever we have actually belongs to the community of faith. 

PRAYER: Father, by your grace you have called us to be among the elect to fight on the side of truth. Grant that by the mercy in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, we may be found worthy of this calling at his appearing. Amen!

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