I have really enjoyed this epistle and the loving challenge Paul has given to Timothy. Right in the beginning he says, “But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things…” Just because there is unity in the church in Ephesus doesn’t mean it was good unity. Paul is telling Timothy to watch what you see happening and make sure it always aligns with what you know in Christ. The end of verse 11 says, “…Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.” It just doesn’t come because we believe in Jesus Christ, it says; pursue it. Verse 12 says, “Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.” These are words of action; it takes passion to do this because Timothy’s purpose was to lead that church and keep them focused on what was true not what they wanted to believe was true.
When we call ourselves Christians we are claiming to be Christ followers so our actions should have the effort that Paul challenges Timothy with so we create no barriers for people in the church as well as the un-churched. Warren Wiersbe said this about Timothy and Paul’s letter, “If Timothy was going to fight the good fight of faith, he had to decide that Jesus Christ alone was worthy of worship and complete devotion.” When we make that same claim and accept Jesus do we work our hardest to know all we can so we live a life that will shine for Him? We should enter our devotion time like we are starving for more wisdom and growth, not just satisfied with calling ourselves Christian, which was not highly used term in the New Testament.
When we desire to understand what Jesus did and the love He showed to the Father by coming here as a human to die and take our sins we should long to have that same love and show God that by our actions. In James chapter 3 verse 17 we get a great picture of our lives in Christ. It says, “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.” We are blessed and have a job to do, what I mean is we need to learn so much that our faith permeates our bodies so much that it leaks out so others are blessed by our actions and love. Let’s make sure we don’t live idle lives but lives that are shining truth. Amen