Run With It: Flee and Pursue

Tuesday, October 09, 2012, 9:36 a.m. – the Lord woke me this morning with the song (hymn) “When Morning Gilds the Skies” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 1Timothy 6 (quoting vv. 6-21 NIV 1984):

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight 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. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.

Grace be with you.

Godliness with Contentment

In reading vv. 3-5, we realize that, in context, the preface for v. 6 is speaking of people who teach what is not in accord with the truths of scripture (under the New Covenant), who take pleasure in arguing with other people over words – arguments that lead to fights – and who think godliness is a means to financial gain. Either they peddle the word of God for profit and not out of a desire to obey God, and/or they are teachers of a health, wealth and prosperity philosophy that promises financial success to all those who follow their teachings. Either way, they are teaching what is false, they love to argue and fight over knowledge, and they view faith in Christ as something that will bring them financial rewards in this life.

In contrast to these “men of corrupt mind,” we are to display contentment in whatever circumstances the Lord Jesus Christ places us. We will gain much when we take such an attitude, but it won’t be gain in the treasures of this world, but gain in the spiritual riches Christ Jesus has given us; in peace and in joy; in making a difference in other people’s lives for eternity; and in our own spiritual growth and development in our walk with the Lord Jesus. The things of this life will pass away, but God’s word remains forever. We came into this world with nothing and we won’t be able to take anything of this world with us when we depart, which is a good thing! If we have the basic essentials of food and clothing, we should be content. I think we need periodic reminders about this, and that daily we must take this attitude of contentment, because the world around us teaches us the opposite.

There is a warning here against setting our hearts and minds on the things of this earth and on what this sinful world considers valuable, making these things or values our god. God is not opposed to us having possessions, I don’t believe, but what he is opposed to is us running after the things of this world so that they become our goal and focus instead of God. If our goal is to make lots of money and in the process we neglect those things which are most important and are of eternal value, then what have we gained? We can’t take money with us when we die. Yet, it is not just money that is the issue here. If we love this world more than we love God, and if our minds and hearts are set on the pleasures this world has to offer us, and we make it our goal to do what is pleasing to us, instead of what is pleasing to God, then we have missed the mark, and we are opening ourselves up for temptation to indulge ourselves in many harmful and foolish desires that will lead us away from our pure faith and devotion to Jesus Christ. I know this from past experience.

Flee All This

To flee something means to run away from it; to take flight, like Joseph did when he was being tempted by Potiphar’s wife. Of course, she was angered at his refusal, and then she turned on him and accused him of coming after her, so he was put in prison on false charges. God never said that if we do what is right that we won’t suffer for it, yet when we do suffer unjustly we should count ourselves worthy to suffer for the sake of the name of Christ. Yet, we should always do what is right no matter what happens to us, because God will take care of us, he has all things under his control, and he will work it out for good in our lives and in the lives of others as he intended.

So, even if it costs us our lives, we should flee (run away from) following after the ways and temptations of this world and from focusing so much of our time, attention, mind and heart on things that are going to pass away, and instead we must pursue all that has eternal value. Yet, do we truly grasp what this is saying here? As Christians we are not supposed to be like everyone else. We are not supposed to become worldly in order to identify with the worldly in hopes that we might lead some to Christ. We have been set apart from worldliness by Jesus Christ unto his service. I think this is just not taught much in today’s church because the church itself has become so much like the world in order to try to reach the world. But God really intends that we become radical in our faith and that we become completely abandoned to him, and that we run away from all that stands opposed to holy and righteous living. For some of us, that may mean making some drastic changes in our lifestyles, schedules, and entertainment choices, etc. But it must be done!

Pursue Righteousness

Once we have run away from following after the desires of this world, we should then pursue (chase after in order to capture or take hold of; carry out) righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Do you see the picture here? This is what it means to come to and have faith in Jesus Christ. It means to run away from the things that once enslaved us and to chase after what is godly (see Eph. 4:17-24; Luke 9:23-24). And true faith is continuous ongoing and active faith that keeps running away from what is evil and that continually chases after what is godly. Yet, we don’t do this in our own strength and willpower, but in the strength and power of the Lord within us.

We can no longer be casual about this. We can’t continually play with fire. Jesus has called us to a radical lifestyle that understands and practices daily dying to our own selfish desires and sinful practices, and that daily chooses to follow (pursue; chase after; and obey) Jesus Christ with our lives.

When Morning Gilds the Skies / Unknown / tr. Edward Caswell; Robert Bridges / Joseph Barnby (Laudes Domini)

When morning gilds the skies,

My heart awaking cries: