Do you not yet understand?

What is it the disciples do not understand? Is it that Jesus can take care of them all the time, not just in special occasions?

Motyer calls it "spiritual blindness". That is a good expression. It is good to look at ourselves to see how we fit on this issue? Again this "not understanding" is linked to "hardness of heart" by Jesus.

Hardness of heart to me means selfishness. It means not being concerned about others, only concerned about my own issues, not seeing beyond the length of my nose.

I think all of us struggle with this. The opposite of this is considering God's ways, not our ways. The disciples here saw God's miraculous provision only a short time past but immediately forgot about it. After seeing how God multiplied bread they now go back to worrying about what they will eat.

The disciples have gone back to "normalcy". The are practical atheists once again. They do not consider God when they decide a plan of action or think about their situation. Jesus wants them to change their behavior. He calls it hardness of heart.

I think I do sometimes consider God when I reflect on a situation or a plan of action. That is what God wants. He wants us to know God is eager to be always involved in our lives. But we often unconsciously have areas of our lives where we leave God out. In could be in our jobs, in our romantic life, in our health, in our recreation. God does not want us to leave him out. He wants us to act righteously in all those situations.

Jesus is training his disciples. He wants them to be wholly converted. He wants their hearts to change along with their behavior. It's an act of God but we are involved.

MARK 8:14-21 [14]And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. [15]And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." [16]They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. [17]And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? [18]"HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember, [19]when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." [20]"When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." [21]And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?" (NASB)

Mark 8:1-13

Steve Motyer has returned to the theme of hardened hearts in Mark. 6L52 is a key passage. Even the disciples has hardened hearts in that they could not understand the meaning of what Jesus has done.

Here in Mark 8, the second feeding, this time 4,000, the disciples are obedient but there is never any mention of their reaction.

Right after this we have the Pharisees coming and arguing with Jesus and demanding a sign. This is ironic. We have just witnessed a marvelous sign, one that cannot be missed, explained away. Yet their hard hearts caused them to miss it. One wonders what sort of sign would have satisfied them. I do not think anything would have been sufficient.

Motyer suggests that Jesus' response means "No sign CAN be given to this generation." "They are incapable of of seeing the sign because something within them resists the sight." - Motyer.

Perhaps the opposite of this is the sign of Jonah, which the Ninevites did respond to. They repented, or made a serious attempt to. God saw their intention and relented of his judgment.

I think God produces amazing signs all the time, in big ways and in personal ways. And yet most of us are like the Pharisees and even like the disciples. We are incapable of understanding the importance and we soon forget all about it.

I am afraid that describes me. I think DW is better at it than I. I once heard a teaching about setting up monuments in our mind. These monuments are the marvelous things we have seen and heard God do. When we are in need of encouragement we are to look at the monuments and remember.

The Old Testament has examples of this. The Israelites especially remember their deliverance from Egypt and their miraculous walk through the Red Sea. At the Passover dinner they remember it again. At communion we remember too what God did for us on the cross. Both of these are like monuments. We look up and are encouraged.

bad habit

God seems to be speaking to me (again) about dealing with conflict. I HATE conflict and I react by getting angry. The bank situation is the major case in point. But I was almost civil the last time on the phone.
But then the phone company sent me a bill after I had stopped that service. I called and talked civilly, even nicely, to the lady over the phone. She said it would be taken care of. I would get a new bill in a few weeks. Did being civil help? I’m not sure. But it did not hurt.
So now I checked the prescription and found that they only put 30 pills when they should have put 90. Again I called. Again I was civil. She apologized at the end and said come in for the rest. I then noticed that it did not show more refills. Good thing I kept my last doctor prescription forms. They were doing these prescriptions from older computer entries. I need to get by and show them the newer one. Again, trying to be friendly. Conflict can be handled in a friendly manner. Lord help me.
I did come by late Wednesday night to the pharmacy. It turns out it was my fault, which I heartedly admitted. But they did not want to enter the new scripts. It would sort of work they way it worked this time but my doctor would be called automatically by the computer for approval. I hoped to avoid this next time. They did it finally and this time gave me copies of my scripts, not the originals back. Last time they only entered the ones actually needing to be refilled. The other were not going to need it for a month.
Now, in contrast I have a situation where I am on the other end. A mortgagee got very angry about the situation with the mortgage they have with my company. They have been past due. They have reacted by getting mad at me. They expected the impossible and called me all sorts of names. But we did finally work things out. Their anger did probably get them some concessions. But when they finally paid off I have held off from filing the "release of lien" because they said something about our not deserving this money. So that made me afraid they would stop payment on the check. It’s been two months and I am finally about to do the release. Usually it would only take three weeks or so.
The banker that I am mad at is treating me the same way. He is treating me gingerly. He is delaying actions I guess for similar reasons. I cannot read his mind. But he is acting a lot like I am acting towards these mortgage holders.
In sum, I am trying to be nice when I have to confront conflict situations. It’s a bad habit, long cherished, to get angry in such situations and it will be hard to break.

Mark 7:6-13

Jesus reacts angrily to the Pharisees. The Pharisees accuse the disciples of ritual uncleanness. Jesus objects to their carping about superficial cleanliness when they are guilty of much larger errors.
Steve Motyer says "The problem with interpreting life through rules is that, sooner or later, mercy is forgotten." He also adds "Rules give comfort to the insecure soul." All of us have insecurities in that realm.
I think I am walking with God. I try to use rules and not be ruled by them. But I am sure, in my insecurity, legalism slips into my life.
Certainly legalism get in the way of God's mercy in my life. But I try to seek understanding and to read admonitions in the Bible to break free.
Sadly when was young my religious zeal kept me from spending time with my parents. I did not need to give them money but I could have given them time. I know my mother was upset with me at times. I cannot think of examples so this may be more the devil's accusation than God's conviction. I did not withhold money as Jesus accuses the Pharisees of doing but I did withhold time from my parents in the name of God.
Later I would join dad's company. I did that at least partially out of a feeling of obligation to my parents. And that obedience to God's call to honor my father worked out very well for me. God has blessed that immensely.
In Mark 7:9-13 Jesus likely has a specific example in mind. As is often the case we do not know all of the story. But the Pharisees, or at least some of them, probably did. Jesus is upset with how they have used God's name to do evil. God wants us to be kind to one another. We do not have to wait for permission to act with mercy.
God is also upset when we use his name to do evil, to withhold mercy. We need to be careful. This is legalism at its worst.

Mark 6 Greek comments

OK, I was trying to keep going in my understanding of Greek. I see that my Spanish is still getting better, not great, I am not fluent. But I have been dabbling with Spanish for fifty years. So I have hope with the Greek. I still cannot identify the exact conjugation but I can get the jist knowing the root meaning of the word. And Greek words, like other languages, combine roots to create new words. It helps to know the roots.

Anyway Mark 6 contrasts two very different stories on purpose. We begin with the story of the Jesus sending out the disciples to preach and heal. Its a training mission. But in the middle, between the time when they are sent out and they return Mark places a tragic/sad story of the beheading of John the Baptist. There are so many contrasts. One is set in dusty poor areas, the other in an immaculate and beautiful palace.

As I'm reading of the awful use made by the queen of her daughter to get her revenge on John I often feel a little sorry for the young girl. So seems an unwitting pawn. This is naive. But I like to be naive sometimes. I do not think that is a good thing. It means I am purposely hiding from reality. Sometimes reality scares me.

But in the Greek it is even more clear (to me anyway) that this young girl is excited, eager to do as her mom wishes. She is excited to see the power that her young body evocatively dancing, has over men. It's probably clear in any good English translation. But the Greek adds extra adjectives. She is eager. She is quick to do as her mother bids. She has no regard for the life that is being murdered because of their whim.

I think Mark wants us to see the world that the disciples are going to preach to. It is an unkind, unfriendly world. People treat each other as impersonal objects to get what they want.

This young girl has probably never been out of the palace much. She has no experience of lives different than her own. But her heart is already hardened.

In a few more verses Jesus feed the 5,000. Jesus commands the disciples to feed the people. "Do it yourselves." It is a Greek command form. They respond, "How?" It would take 200 denarius to get enough bread to feed all these people. I estimate that to be about $10,000. The reading audience would know this is an impossible sum. But Jesus does not let them off the hook. He commands them to look and see. What do they have? So they return to Jesus with what little they can find. Before they can despair Jesus commands again. Get the crowd to sit in groups. Why the groups? Then Jesus blesses God, says a prayer. Then he gives the bread and fish back to the disciples to distribute.

Often it is said that the Greek verb means continuously giving. Yes the verb is a participle and it does mean continuous action. However this happens a lot in Greek, a lot more than in English. It is not special. But yes it is true.

Why does he put them in groups? I can only guess. Perhaps to give the disciples something to do to keep them from panicking. Second, perhaps this is silly, but getting them into groups forces them to eat family style. They are not eating alone. They are sharing. And also this way people will keep track of what is eaten and what is left. It will be harder for someone to take extra food and keep it back. This way it will be clear how much is truly left over.

Why is that last part important? Maybe just to show how abundant was God's provision.

My wife was telling me of a dinner she attended where there was only a small chicken to eat. But then a at least ten more people came. They prayed and blessed the food and there was enough for all. She thought it miraculous at the time. But I imagine there was not many times more left over than what they started with.

I think God sometimes does provide miraculously for his saints. Praise God for that.

Next we have the story of Jesus walking on the water. This version does not include Peter's response. But it does end by saying the disciples are so surprised because they do not understand the meaning of the feeding of the 5,000 - their hearts are hardened. So the daughter of the queen, so the disciples, so are we so often. We do not believe because our hearts are hardened.

I pray for softened faithful hearts today.

Saturday

DW left for a day long retreat at 7 AM. She woke about 6:30. So I too walk and took a walk. It was mostly a plastic and aluminum picking walk. I passed back and forth north of our house. I then went home and dumped the stuff. Then I went east through Broadmoor. By the time I started on my second round I was getting tired. Six miles or so is all I can handle easily. I wonder about doing the half marathon this year.

Anyway I got home and worked on catching up on computer. I read part of a novel.

I had planned to grill but I was getting tired. So I did start the fire but used only some sausages that I had in the house. I did not go to the store for chicken or anything. I am just trying to burn my excess wood.

So I did get a nap in before the Rice football game. Tailgating at Rice is free if you know the right people. So I got some beer and chili and went to the game. I saw QM and talked to him for a while. I saw "Thrill" too and talked politics for a while. Rice did not win, made lots of mistakes. But they did score 20 points so there were things to cheer. I stayed for the end. I finally watched the fourth period from the second deck.

Oh yes, the bank called and this bank officer lied to me again. I got very mad again. This time I called a lawyer. We are going to have to follow this up. His delaying fixing his serious mistake has gone on long enough. I hate to even speak of this.

Titus 2

When I read Titus 2 I think of those prisoners I knew at the downtown Texas jail. These guys are new Christians, most of them. But all of them are like Cretans Titus was disciplining. They are just starting to know what it means to live righteously. A lot of old patterns have to change. It will not happen overnight. Old habits take time to break. There will be a lot of failures, small or big.

Paul gives instructions. First for older men (2) - "temperate ... sensible, faith, love, perseverance."

This may seem only right and normal to us but it was new to the Cretans, to Greeks in general.

Paul mentions next older women (3) - to the reverent, not gossips, instead teach good things. Paul has to mention not getting drunk, another old habit to break. We do not usually associate older women with excessive drinking. But it happens enough, usually done in private.

Young women then get two verses (3-4). I think it is interesting that Paul takes pains to mention that women must choose to love their husbands and children. Love is a chose after all. Paul knew that.

For these women, husbands were likely chosen for them by their parents. Paul takes a radically different view of marriage. In the old system women were required to obey their husbands. Husbands were expected to demand obedience, perhaps by beating, not by love. Paul is preaching a whole new way of thinking about marriage and family. A husband was to love his wife, as God loves his people.

I find it interesting, worthy of note (9) that Paul instructs a wife to submit to her own husband and bond slaves to submit to his own master. Wouldn't this to be understood? A wife does not have to submit to all men. A slave does not have to submit to all masters. Why does Paul think it important to use "own"? He states it the same way in Philippians.

I suppose he wants to make it clear the hierarchy is only to the proper person. Women otherwise do not have to submit to men in general. Men, no matter what their position, do not have to submit to other men, only those to whom they are bonded. Paul seems to imply an equality among people in general here.

Bond slave seems a foreign concept to us. But if you make a contract with someone you are bonded to them. If you take out a mortgage on a house or have payments for a car you should consider yourself a bond slave, required to pay it until it is done.

2 Timothy 4:17

I just love little details like this. It just hit me. Paul was probably not using imagery here when he speaks of being delivered from the lion's mouth. Paul uses imagery so often and this image of being delivered from the lion's mouth is used so often. We never think of it as literal because no one does that anymore.

The main image comes from the book of Daniel where Daniel is thrown into a den of lions and has to survive the night without being eaten. So when Paul uses this image he could be thinking of Daniel.

Yet Paul has just mentioned being before the court. He successfully defending himself. Under Emperor Nero Christians were literally thrown into the Colosseum to be eaten by wild animals for the entertainment of the Romans.

Paul was ever the brilliant defender of the faith. This time he defended himself in court.

Probably he had to convince the court to follow the law. Roman citizens, as Paul was, were executed in a more humane fashion. They could not be crucified and they could not be given to the lions. But Nero felt he was the law. He could do what he liked. He hated Christians and certainly was willing to treat them as badly as possible.

But Paul was successful in getting the Roman court to follow the law. It did not mean Paul would not be executed for being a Christian. But it would be done in a more humane, respectful way.

What spiritual truth do we get from this? I am at a loss. Yet Paul does see a great truth here shown in verse 4:18. Paul sees God's faithfulness. He believes God is still in control despite all. And he is confident that God will accept him in his own time. He will be accepted into God's heavenly kingdom. Paul is looking forward to it. He will be very present in this world as long as he remains. But he is confidently looking forward to the next world too.

Thank God for his faithfulness. Let us all be like Paul, confident in God and his promises to us.

Titus 1

I am quickly going through the pastoral epistles (the two Timothys and Titus). I have gotten behind in my reading. That is mostly why there have not been any blogs lately.

In Titus 1, Paul, like he does for Timothy, is calling Titus to appoint leaders in the new churches.

Paul starts his set of qualifications with some mostly do-nots (1:6-7). Only one wife, having believing children, not self-willed, not quick tempers, not a heavy drinker, not easily provoked, not fond of sordid gain. Paul at least partially defines sordid gain further down in 1:11. He says some are teaching things they should not in order to be paid for it (sordid gain).

We can glean that these men were teaching specials rites and rules. These things, they claimed, would assure the learner right standing with God. Paul constantly rejected legalistic rules. Paul said faith is what saves and we show the fruits of our faith by our good works. These good works are a product of our faith. But they do not save us. Jesus saves us as we believe in faith.

And those works will be different for each person. There are no set rules.

After these mostly negative attributes of the leader come the good attributes, gifts perhaps (1:8-9) = hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding firm to the Word taught by Paul, Titus, and others. Thus they are able to accurately teach the Word and also correct those who disagree.

Remember Paul is talking of believers, not unsaved people. New believers still have to be taught and have to be unlearned things they formerly believed and practiced. In a church of all new believers anything is possible. It is so easy for a whole church to get off. Great care has to be made to make sure people do not latch on to incorrect ideas.

It is so easy for people to add on stuff, perhaps bringing on stuff from their old religion and old practices. Syncretism is combining practices from one religion onto another.

To keep these new converts growing in faith Paul knows, great caution has to made to keep the old stuff out. The teaching has to be kept pure and correct.

2 Timothy 3:10-17

In the section quoted at the end Paul tells Timothy to be different. Verses 10 and 14 both start, "But you ...". He is contrasting Timothy's behavior with those of the world around him. We who attempt to be intentional disciples will do the same.

I read in the commentary an illustration. When in a special boat used to traveling near the north pole one experiences high winds. The ice floes flow with the wind. But the captain pointing out an ice floe moving in another direction. The caption said, that is not a surface floe but an iceberg. The iceberg has a deep root of ice below the surface. It is being pushed by a deeper water current running against the surface current being pushed by the wind.

The surface current is like the surrounding culture. The iceberg is being pushed by the unseen deeper current. That is like the Holy Spirit of God. We do not want to be buffeted by the wind by inspired by the Holy Spirit. That will make us different in many ways and get us ridiculed at best, persecuted at worst.

2 TIMOTHY 3:10-17 [10]Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, [11]persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! [12]Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. [13]But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [14]You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, [15]and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. [16]All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; [17]so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. NASB

2 Peter 4:12-19 - Levent's call to prayful waiting

I mentioned Joel Osteen yesterday. Joel is a great man of God. He has a ministry that encourages a lot of people. I wonder how he reacts to 1 Peter 4:12-19? Peter expects suffering to come to the man who boldly proclaims the gospel. Those he is writing to assume this is a normal experience.

4:16 - If we suffer as Christian, do not be ashamed but in the name of Jesus glorify God! Peter and Paul agree that we should glorify God for the suffering that we experience.

Maybe I am twisting this but I take this to mean, rather than holding back, trying to hide our faith and trying to fit in with unbelievers, we should be proud of what we believe and not be ashamed of our beliefs.

Levent, a Turkish pastor who spoke yesterday, said that as we pray we wait on God. This is an active thing to do. To call on the living God, unbelievers will ridicule us for doing that. When unbelievers are told about a friend in crisis they speak of "sending good thoughts". How hopeless is that? Yet they honestly can do nothing else.

We call upon the living Go who loves us and all men and eagerly want to for us to ask. Unbelievers can ridicule us but we glorify God.

Sunday

Sunday DW and I went to the late service, which is the unusual 11:30 AM at our church. That seems really late. I miss the first half of the Texans game. What are you going to do? It turns out I missed the good part of the game and mostly listened to the bad part.

With all the rain the service was very small.

The good part of all this is that I got in a long morning walk, from 7 to 9. I explored some new area east of midtown. I found a few treasures. I got rained on but considering how much we need it that was no problem. I saw the dark clouds but it has been threatening the last few days with little actual rain.

I put my magazine and phone in plastic, they were safe. I also was able to protect my little earphone radio and still listen to it.

The rain was warm and there was no lightning. I was more than glad that we were getting some soaking rain. It was a gully washer, coming off and on hard for a while then soft again. Some curbs were filled up. In other places the water was quickly flowing into storm drains. The dustiness was finally getting washed away.

On Sunday mornings the normally music stations on the FM dial often program more religious hours. Some do public interest programs. I scanned the dial looking for what was available. My little radio is fickle about what stations it will pick up on FM. A couple of weeks ago I heard the tail end of Al Sharpton. It would probably raise my BP but I would like to hear that again. I did not find Sharpton.

But I heard a social affairs program about bone diseases. After that came a half hour sermon by Joel Osteen. Osteen was pretty good. He leaves out part of the gospel. But this was a pretty good sermon encouraging people that God's "no" means he has something better in store. That could almost be MP or one of my blogs. But he never mentioned suffering and his call to accepting Jesus did not mention repentance. This is an important omission. I enjoyed hearing some things I would not normally hear.

My shoe has still not dried out yet.

1 Timothy 3:1-9

"These people...honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Isa. 29:13).

This indictment of the people of the church in Timothy's time seems all too modern. I can think of people like that. But better still to look closer still at myself.

Yes I am often trying to make short cuts to righteousness. I want to put other things before God.

We are still in the last days. Paul mentions that they are in the last days. Two millennium later we are still in the last days.

When I was in my twenties I knew men who did what verse six describes, play on the insecurities of weak women to get sexual favors. These people were all Christians and I had much less respect for the men than for the women. Sadly there were times that acting as those men did seemed appealing. I never did but mostly for the wrong reasons. But that comment by Paul is so telling. We often think of Paul as innocent in the affairs of sexual love but he was not at all. I am sure as a pastor he had to pick up the pieces from such dalliances and he knew the power of those hormones.

When we come to verse seven I hope that is not me, always learning but never becoming mature. It is always a temptation for me to love the facts more than the God that I am proposing to learn them for. If I never get out there and serve then I am learning for purely selfish motives.

In verses two through four we have a vice list. Paul is talking about Christians here, those who are supposed to be living like Jesus. Timothy has a tough job. Any church probably has such people. Are we any better? I hope so. But I should look at myself first. At one time or another I have probably been all those things.

I notice it is men who are called malicious gossips, not women, chuckle. I suppose this includes all people though.

Perhaps most of all I am convicted by verse five, "holding to a form of godliness while denying the power of it." To me that describes legalism. It shows faithlessness, a form of atheism. We go through the motions without really experiencing God. We have tamed God, which means we have denied him because God can never be tamed.

Paul is talking here about the negative side. He is talking bluntly to a leader. But there is a gracious side of this. All these people are saved by grace, not by their own actions. God has determined to love these people (and us) despite their unfaithful actions.

This is a wonderful reminder of God's gracious love: "There is no pit so deep, but Christ is deeper still" (Corrie ten Boom).

We should determine to accept God's love and endeavor love God more dearly.

The fight is still on for the souls of men. Satan was defeated by Jesus on the cross. But the battle will not be totally over until he comes back again. He has delayed, I guess so that more can be saved. Lord give us opportunities to help others to choose Jesus as savior and start on the path to discipleship.

The commentator's final prayer: Lord, my own life has been stained by the darkness of these last days; cleanse my heart, and relocate all my loves and desires more closely in Your will.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-9 [1] But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. [2]For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, [3]unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, [4]treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, [5]holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. [6]For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, [7]always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. [8]Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. [9]But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also. NASB

2 Timothy 1

In the letters to Timothy and Titus we are seeing an older man's sort of epitaph. That's not the right word. It's a bequeath, a written passing of the mantle. Paul is passing his mantle, his burdens, his gifts to younger men and by extension to all disciples and leaders who follow after.

Paul is not so old that he is in fear of death from poor health. No, Paul is likely in good health. But he is certain that this time in prison with Nero as Emperor, will be his last. He will be killed soon. He is not being treated as well this time. He describes a real prison, not a house, and chained to a guard. Nero was not a friend to Christians. And he was likely not very sane. You could never be sure what he would do next. But you could be certain it would not be merciful.

A great leader tries to raise up people to take his place. Timothy was probably Paul's most able assistant. But there were others, Titus being one. From reading these letters it is clear that Paul spent a lot of time teaching and encouraging his appointed leaders. He also demanded a lot of them.

Especially as I read 2 Timothy 1. Paul mentions he is in prison (8). His imprisonment has brought a new temptation for his followers. Paul mentions those who have not been scared off, (Onesiphorus and himself)by his impending death. And he mentions some who have (Phygeius and Hermogenes).

We too are tempted to think that being faithful to God means smooth sailing in life with no hardships. When hardships do come do we think God has abandoned us? Or are we tempted to think all that we have been taught is a lie All my imagination?

Paul takes the time to say a prayer of blessing for Onesiphorus for his good deeds. let's do the say thing for those who help us along in this life (or for others we love). Take time to say a prayer as you go, thanking God for what they did and praying a blessing into their life. This is the right thing to do, even if they do not yet have faith (or perhaps you do not know).

Paul encourages Timothy not to be afraid of suffering (7,8). I do tend to stoically accept the little suffering I face. (Or I yell loudly). But Paul say do differently. Our suffering is for the glory of God. His suffering is according to the power of God (8). What does that mean? I do not think I truly understand yet.

Christ Jesus suffered and it was to his glory and to the glory of God. When we suffer we are sharing in Jesus' suffering.

Paul states he is not ashamed to be in prison, suffering, perhaps being beaten, certainly living very uncomfortably (12). It must be very humiliating to be chained to a guard. Yet God is able to guard his faith until he goes on to his reward. Paul keeps the faith. Let us do the same.

1 Timothy 6:11-21

In the first part of this chapter Paul goes back to how to correct false teachers and speaks of their evil motivations. This may be a key to thwarting their plans.

He also goes back to godliness. Some consider godliness a way to make money. These teachers claim to have some special key to godliness. Paul has taken great pains to say no, you get godliness by pursuing it. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith love, steadfastness, and gentleness (11).

Paul affirms that godliness does bring great gain if it is joined by contentment (6). This is like a proverb. And I notice there are quite a few proverbial statements in 1 Timothy. What a wonderful statement to ponder! Godliness brings great gain when one is content. Paul has contrasted this with people who are avaricious after money. Godliness brings a gain that we can take with us eternally after death. We certainly cannot take our possessions with us.

But this last half of the chapter speaks to Timothy personally and if we would to us personally. Paul uses stronger verbs: flee (11), pursue (11), fight (12), and take hold (12).

Then Paul ends with a passage praising God and Christ Jesus, a doxology. Paul cannot help himself. I hope you too find many things in this world to praise God for. He is worthy.

1 Timothy 4:6-16

) I’ve been experiencing some failure in my life lately. It is true that God loves me whether I am successful or not. God just loves me. That is what I am consoling myself with. God commands that I remain in that love. Live it. Immerse myself in it. Perhaps that is what caused me to go wrong. At least part of my failure comes from not knowing my identity as a beloved child of God. I was trying to get love and approval from men instead of God.

What do you do when you think you are the only one who sees correctly? Am I like the guy driving the wrong way on a street thinking everyone else is going the wrong way? Everyone else thinks I am wrong. So I guess I am just not in touch with reality in this situation. I am trying to accept that the truth is not what I think it is, what my feelings scream that it is. I am trying to see it as the others do, looking at the same situation. Is there anything like faith in the this situation. I erred (I guess) when I tried to get what I thought was fair instead of relying on God’s love for me.

I have no doubt theoretically that I have blind spots. When it gets concrete it is hard to accept. I know that without God I would not be as together as I am. I’d be in much worse condition than I am now. Sometimes that seems like that is not saying much.

I see myself as greatly risking in many areas of my life. I think that is what God wants for me. Sometimes I do good. I try to do it to the glory of God. The problem is when it subtly or not so subtly becomes seeking after my own glory. That can happen when I stop remaining in God’s love for me.

Reading 1 Timothy 4:6-16 I am reminded that I have a burden to encourage people to become disciples, to identify themselves as disciples. That is what Paul is training Timothy to do. An important part of Timothy’s work is to model discipleship. Paul mentions bodily discipline (8). But spiritual disciple he calls “godliness”. Timothy is told to command and teach these things. Timothy is not to be timid but to be bold, bold yet gentle. He is to be bold in his walk, a disciple of godliness – love, faith and purity. Show yourself an example.

Timothy is always “on”. He must control his tongue at all times. He never can cease from his disciple. His whole life is to be a model of the mature man and leader.

All these things Paul is asking of Timothy are also for all of us who aspire to be mature. That is why this book is included in the canon. We cannot help but to be examples to those around us who also aspire to maturity. Paul sets Timothy lofty goals. The are for us also, for me also.