1 Timothy 6:11-12 BSB
“11But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses.”
Paul wrote these words to Timothy, man to man, but the
instructions he gave him here are not limited to Timothy only, but for all of
us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, what was he telling him to flee
from? From false doctrines which are contrary to the teachings of Christ, abusive
talk, many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and
destruction, and giving preference to the riches of this world, which is the
root of all kinds of evil, which may lead to wandering from the faith (see 1 Timothy
6:3-10).
So we are to flee from all kinds of evil, not just the ones
listed here, and we are to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
perseverance, and gentleness. And righteousness is whatever is deemed right in
the eyes of the Lord, which is all that is honest, morally pure, upright,
godly, faithful and obedient to our Lord’s commands. And godliness involves us
living in walks of obedience to our Lord, in surrender to his will, and no
longer as slaves to sin, for we are being transformed by God into the likeness
of Jesus Christ.
And faith, which comes from God, for which Jesus is the
author and the perfecter, and which is not of our own doing, not of human
flesh, but which is born of God and gifted to us by God, and is persuaded of
God, requires that we deny self, die to sin daily, and follow our Lord in walks
of obedience to his commands from here to eternity. It does not demand that we
be absolutely perfect in every way but that sin must no longer be our practice,
and now following our Lord in obedience is to be what we put into practice.
And love, which also comes from God, is agape, which means
to prefer, and in this case to prefer what God prefers, which is all that is
deemed right in the eyes of the Lord (as listed above). And love does no harm
to a neighbor. And perseverance involves us staying the course, keeping the
faith, walking in obedience to our Lord, following his lead, and refraining
from sinful practices. And gentleness is reserved strength. It is meekness, but
it is not weakness. For Jesus was meek, but he was not weak. He spoke the truth
in love to the people out of love for them, even if they hated him in return.
And to fight the good fight of faith is done with the armor
of God (see Ephesians 6:10-20), which involves us putting into practice in our daily
lives our faith in Jesus Christ, the truth of God’s Word, righteousness, the
gospel of Christ, and the sharing of the gospel with others. And we must walk
in the salvation God provided, which teaches that we must deny self, die to
sin, and obey our Lord’s commands. And we must live what God’s Word teaches us,
and we must use his Word to fight off the enemy of our souls, too.
And if we take hold of the eternal life to which we were
called when we made the good confession of faith in Christ, possibly also
before many witnesses, then we follow the teachings of Christ and of his New
Testament apostles which teach us that faith in Christ, which is genuine,
involves us denying self, dying to sin, and walking in obedience to our Lord,
in practice. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to our Lord,
then we do not have salvation from sin, nor do we have eternal life with God
promised us.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians
5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14;
Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
Jesus, Rescue Me
Based off of Romans 7:7-25 thru Romans
8:1-39
An Original Work / September 18, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Jesus, rescue me
today.
Listen while I bow
and pray.
I need Your help to
obey You;
Live for You always.
Meet me in my hour
of need, Lord,
As I pray to You.
Help me walk in
fellowship, Lord,
Living in Your
truth.
Jesus, how I long
for You to
Change my heart
anew.
Father, God, my
heart’s desire
Is to live for You
this hour
In Your Holy
Spirit’s power
Living in me now.
Teach me to walk in
Your love, Lord,
Guiding me each day.
Help me to show love
and kindness
To the lost, I pray.
Father, teach me to
love others
As You love always.
Holy Spirit come in
pow’r.
Revive our hearts in
this hour.
Change our hearts to
be like You, Lord;
Live for You each
day.
Help us to forsake
our sins, Lord,
As we humbly pray.
Teach us how to live
for You, Lord,
Obey You always.
Holy Spirit come in
power,
Revive us today.
The Good Fight of Faith
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