Today I read through 2 Timothy. Again, Paul is writing to Timothy, and this letter is more personal. Chapter 1, verse 7 says, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." If I'm going to live by God's Spirit, I will not shy away from the truth, or from what I must do. I will live out of the power, love, and self-discipline that He gives. I know that my strength comes from God, from His grace and not from myself. He will give me the strength to endure suffering, to hold onto faith and the truth, to do all that He has called me to do.
Chapter 2 shows the importance of a proper perspective. If I desire to please God, I won't let the things of this world get in the way of that. I must speak truth and avoid teaching anything that is not of God and doesn't glorify Him. If I cleanse myself from impurity and unholiness (obviously with God's help, but with an act of will to follow His lead), I will be useful for godly purposes, and prepared to do whatever He calls me to. I must pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, be kind and not quarrelsome, able to teach and not resentful. I must be gentle with those who come against me, hoping for their redemption and rescue rather than attacking them. As I looked at the other day, they are not the enemy, they have been brainwashed, but they are P.O.W.s and need rescuing.
Chapter 3 contains a list of qualities for me to avoid in my life, the ones I think I need to watch out for most at the moment being: loving myself, boastful, proud, ungrateful, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, rash, conceited, and loving pleasure rather than God. Some will be easier for me to fall into than others, but along with the ones I didn't mention, I should take care that these don't creep into my life. I want to be a godly man, and live out of the power of His Spirit, and Paul calls these ways of living 'having a form of godliness but denying its power'.
I've heard some people recently saying that God doesn't want us telling anyone what they ought to be doing or not doing... not only does that ignore the community aspect of God's heart (and confuse instruction with judgment), it is foreseen and countered by the truth in 1 Timothy 4:2-4, which says, "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. / For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. / They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." I don't ever want to be a teacher who will just say what people want to hear rather that what God actually says - God's Word is what people need, and what will benefit them more. I'd rather not be popular, yet responsible for leading people away from God. As I discussed yesterday, that's a dangerous place to be. I want to be useful to God, helpful to others, and full of His Spirit so I can complete this spiritual race that I'm running, never giving up, holding on until I receive the victor's crown in the end (for in Christ I have the victory).
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