Fight the Good Fight

Today I had a great discussion with a friend about the importance of being in God's Word. Sometimes I fly through life without taking the time to read the Bible for myself. It's easy to sit in church sometimes and let the pastor teach me what God says. But it is so much more fruitful for me when I dig in myself and see what the Lord has to show me. I just put it off when I shouldn't.

So, after talking with my friend I felt encouraged and led to the Word. I have a wonderful daily Bible that breaks the entire Bible down into daily chunks. No guess work in what I should read! I began reading and as always, God's wisdom poured forth. I love the Bible. I truly do. It is so alive with truth and answers.

In light of the recent economic crisis, I found today's passage particularly interesting. Here it is:

1 Timothy 6:6-21

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

Ah, the oft quoted scripture that so many misquote: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." (emphasis mine) This verse is often quoted as "the love of money is the root of all evil" yet here it is as written. In context it makes so much sense, too. We are not to LOVE money. It is something we use in this world, but as the Lord tells us here we come into this world with nothing and we certainly can't take anything out. Yet, the time in between society seems to focus on getting stuff and money and more stuff and more money. The Lord cautions against desiring to be rich. He is not saying you cannot be rich, but it should not be what is sought after. We are to be content if we have food and clothing. Discontentment is what drives greed. And greed can cause one to stray from faith in God.

The passage continues:
"But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen."

I love that. "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life..." And the things we are to pursue are fruit of the Spirit. Oh, that it were easy. Sometimes the fruit I bear is rotten. But I know that these are the things of eternal importance whereas riches are for this world only. So I know these are the things I should pursue even if I don't always get it right.

The next part of the passage reads:
"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."

I would imagine there are some people right now who put their trust in uncertain riches on the stock market. I do hope they will find their way to put trust in the living God instead. How awesome that we can read the Bible written so long ago and it still applies today. It is the living Word, timeless in it's truth.

The passage ends with:
O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge - by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

Grace indeed be with us all.

I'm thankful for my friend's encouragement to open my Bible today. Recently, Seth asked me if we were rich. Well, I certainly don't feel rich although we enjoy many comforts beyond food and clothing. So we looked up the word in the dictionary to discover that the definition of rich is having an abundance of posessions. Hmmmm. Scanning my living room and kitchen I surmised that by that definition we are indeed rich. So we talked about how the home we have and the "stuff" are all from the Lord. We are "rich" because He has given us these things. We talked about being content with what the Lord has given. Oh, there are always things I've like to have (a new couch, for example that doesn't have holes in it), but there are plenty things I have that I absolutely don't need. It boils down to where my heart is. And that's what I told the boys. We need to find our contentment and treasure in the Lord not on being rich or having stuff.