10/29

1 Timothy 6:11-12

¹¹But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Paul had just warned Timothy about the destructiveness of the desire for riches. Then he told Timothy what he should be pursuing. First, he referred to him as a man of God. Do you think of yourself as a man or woman of God? How would it feel if someone referred to you in that manner? It should cause us to pause and consider our high and holy calling. Pursuing money is an unworthy goal for a man or woman of God. He may bless you with wealth, but there are more important things to pursue. Men and women of God are to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Those attributes are worth pursuing. They are worthy goals for God's children.

What does a life pursuit of those attributes look like? Would you say those are the things you are pursuing? How important is gentleness to you? Endurance? Godliness? Do you work at attaining the manifestation of these attributes like a money hungry person pursues financial success? Does it occupy your thoughts and creep into your conversation, like get rich ideas always pop up in the speech of a person who lives for money?

We are in the fight of the ages over who will receive our worship. Fight the good fight of faith. Keep your eyes fixed on what is really worth living and dying for, the Lord Jesus Christ. Take hold of eternal life. Don't just hope your sinner's prayer will get you a free pass to heaven; grab hold of life right now! If it isn't worth living for now, why would you want to spend eternity living in it?

When we first came to faith, we made a public confession, whether it was baptism or a testimony (Romans 10:10). Are we still living like we have committed our lives into God's hands as we declared we did?

Remember: Take hold of life today like you did the day you were saved.