Scripture: 1 Timothy 6.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

1 Timothy 6:11-15 (NLT)
¹¹ But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
¹² 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.
¹³ And I charge you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate,
¹⁴ that you obey this command without wavering. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

¹⁵ For at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

Although so much was accomplished by Timothy’s willingness to go and start churches, and to work on spiritual growth among existing churches, I was so refreshed to see how Paul found it important to remind Timothy to reflect Christ throughout his whole life and in his character. It reminded me of another passage that basically says that when we do things without right intentions, or hypocritically, we are like a clanging cymbal to God. We are making noise basically. The part that I bolded and changed to purple, applies to many of us today. As we pursue the character and the honest witness with the characteristics detailed by Paul, we will not leave a bad taste in the eyes of those that we witness to, teach, preach to or try to love in Jesus name. I believe that one of the biggest deterrents in the minds of today’s unsaved is the hypocrites that they see in our churches and the lifestyles played out in the job places. When we concentrate on the teachings of Paul in verses 11-14, we could clean up much of the problem of hypocritical living and return to the true witness of Jesus Christ. Will you join me in this endeavor today?

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Father God, You are well aware of our evil thoughts and our hypocritical living, and how this has such a negative impact on the lost and dying world around us. Please begin a good work in me, and help me to be a better representative of You in every aspect of my life. I pray that as those studying this devotional with me today may recommit themselves to being more like You and upholding the principles taught be Paul in these verses, that You would give them everlasting strength for each and every day to accomplish this desire so that the whole world may know – that they may hear and subsequently believe, because they see our teachings lived out in our everyday living. You paved the way admirably for us, now may we do our part in representing You well, is my sincere prayer today.

 

àWords underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com
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