Saturday 15 February, 2014

Try hard to get them to do them. 3 Suppose someone teaches ideas that are false. He doesn’t agree with the true teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn’t agree with godly teaching. 4 People like that are proud. They don’t understand anything. They like to argue more than they should. They can’t agree about what words mean. All of that results in wanting what others have. It causes fighting, harmful talk, and evil distrust. 5 It stirs up trouble all the time among people whose minds are twisted by sin. The truth they once had has been taken away from them. They think they can get rich by being godly. 6 You gain a lot when you live a godly life. But you must be happy with what you have. 7 We didn’t bring anything into the world. We can’t take anything out of it. 8 If we have food and clothing, we will be happy with that. 9 People who want to get rich are tempted. They fall into a trap. They are tripped up by wanting many foolish and harmful things. Those who live like that are dragged down by what they do. They are destroyed and die. 10 Love for money causes all kinds of evil. Some people want to get rich. They have wandered away from the faith. They have wounded themselves with many sorrows.

Verse 10 says that some people wander from true faith, because of their craving for money. ‘They pierce themselves with many sorrows’. Paul reminds Timothy to keep teaching the wholesome teachings of The Lord Jesus Christ, because they promote a Godly life. There are others at this time who are promoting their own interpretations of the truth, arguing about trivialities. They are trouble makers with corrupt minds. They teach and gather followers in order to make themselves rich. So greed and arrogance underlie their words.

I suppose I think of cult leaders and some of the tele-evangelists who have fallen from grace when I read this.  Enticed by money and status, they distort the gospel and defraud people.  The result of this is that they pierce themselves with many sorrows. They forget that Jesus is our ‘man of sorrows’.  When we keep our eyes on Him and His truth, we will be blessed with contentment. Contentment is a place of peace where we give thanks for having enough; for the gift of what ever God has placed in our lives. When we acknowledge that ‘Christ is enough for me’.
Don’t pick up and carry the sorrows that Jesus bore for you on the cross, instead give thanks for the large and small gifts in your life, receiving the joy of His goodness.

Dear Lord please don’t let me love or crave worldly things because I don’t want to be lured away from you. Help me to continually thank you for what I have today. Amen

Written by Dimity Milne