Thursday 1 February, 2018

6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters,[a] you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.

If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed (1 Timothy 4:6).

When Paul calls Timothy a good minister of Christ Jesus, He is telling Timothy to be a good servant of Jesus Christ.

To be a good servant, we need certain things; first we watch what we are feeding on. Feed on the words of faith and the doctrine we have followed.

What do we feed on daily and what do we put in our mind? Is it sports, TV, our finances? If any of these things are our daily diet, then we will be a spiritually undernourished servant of Jesus. Paul says what we feed on is what is going to determine how effective we become.

None of the above is wrong; it’s just that we need to regulate them. Anything that is dangerously distracting will easily control our thoughts.

Paul encourages Timothy to give himself to what really feeds his spiritual life, which is that we need the truth of our faith and good teaching.

Paul advises two elements: knowledge and decision. He says we need the good, sound words of the faith and good, sound teaching, and we are to follow them. First we learn, and then we do what it says. The Bible gives us God’s insight into life, of who we are, what He intends us to be and what will fulfil us.

Lord, help me to stand fast in the middle of the pressures of life that are facing me. Teach me to be a woman of faith today; give me a faith that acts, a faith that rises up and obeys what You tell me to do. Amen

Written by Cath Croft