By: Dale Weckbacher
1 Timothy 6:12
Fight
the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which
you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence
of many witnesses.
(ESV)
The Apostle Paul is bringing his first letter to his mentee
Timothy to a close with words of encouragement to flee from false teaching and
instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and
gentleness (1
Timothy 6:11). He then reminds
Timothy that he is in a fight for the faith and must fight this fight with
confession of the goodness of God and His grace (1
Timothy 6:12). Paul reminds Timothy
as well as all who profess faith in Jesus as Savior to make the good confession
of faith just as Jesus did before Pontius Pilate when facing crucifixion (1
Timothy 6:13-16).
It is easy to praise God and speak of His goodness when all
is going well but in 1
Timothy 6:11-16 the Apostle Paul reminds us that we are to make this good
confession of praise to God in both the good and bad times. In another epistle, the Apostle Paul wrote of
learning to be content in both the good and bad circumstances (Philippians
4:11-13). It is this attitude of
Godly contentment that gives us stability as we fight the good fight for the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The present issues facing the United States and other parts
of the world are an attempt by the enemy to derail the Church from the fulfillment
of its mission to spread the Gospel and make disciples (Mark
16:15; Matthew 28:19-20). For
example, secular culture asks Christians to be tolerant of gay marriage and
abortion with some even falling for the deception to accept these lifestyles as
a means of showing the love of Christ. The
common belief among Christians is that God loves the sinner and hates sin, However,
Psalm
11:5 tells us that God hates the wicked.
The context of Psalm
11 is God sitting in His Holy Temple.
The demonstration of God’s love happened with God the Father sending His
Son Jesus to die for the sins of humanity.
However, God does hate the wicked who reject this gift of salvation by
continuing in their wickedness. While
God’s love is unconditional in that it is available to all, it is conditional
in that one must accept the gift.
In the Garden of Eden God created humanity as both male and
female with the intention of both sexes leaving their parents to join in
marriage (Mark
10:6-9). When viewed in this context
we cannot interpret this verse to mean the joining of two males or females in
marriage but that from the beginning God intended marriage to be between a male
and a female. The obvious and logical
reason for this is procreation which cannot occur between two males or two
females. While a gay couple could adopt
a child, there still must be copulation between two members of the opposite sex
for conception to occur and the birth of a new life. Therefore we can safely conclude that gay
marriage is a perversion of what God intended.
Abortion is murder, something every civilized society does
not condone. The real motivation behind
legalizing abortion is not about a woman’s free choice over her body but a
desire to have sex with anyone and the ability to legally murder any baby
resulting from illicit sex. As with all
sin, the sin of abortion has now escalated to infanticide with states in the
United States even condoning the murder of a baby surviving an abortion.
However, even though God hates sin and the wicked committing
such sin, one does not need to remain in their wickedness for we have a God
given conscience. Unfortunately, this
conscience can become seared or rendered useless through continued devotion to
deceitful spirits and teachings (1
Timothy 4:1-6). Unless the wicked in
the world follow their God-given conscience and repent of their wickedness
before the searing of their conscience they risk continuing in wickedness and
incurring the hatred and wrath of God. I
know this is not popular teaching, but it is the truth of scripture (Psalm
11:5). However, a turnaround from this fate is possible with one making a
confession of Jesus as their savior (Romans
10:9-10). Even those reading this
with seared consciences due to many years living in wickedness may now feel a tug
on their hearts to change. If that is
you, it is not too late to abandon wickedness and receive salvation through
Christ. If you feel that tug on your
heart, please take a moment to pray with me now,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans
3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans
6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my
sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1
John 1:9). I believe you died, was
buried, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord of my life.
If you just prayed, God has forgiven and forgotten your
wickedness. His offer of love through
Christ on the cross has now become personal with your acceptance of the
gift. God will never love you more than
he does now for salvation is not based upon our works but simply accepting the
gift of God’s grace which you have just done (Ephesians
2:8). However, any new relationship
grows through connection with each other.
In our relationships on earth, this happens through face-to-face
connection and regular connection through phone calls, texting, or social
media.
God, however, is not present with us for face-to-face
connection meaning that we must connect by faith through the belief that God
exists. Fortunately, we do have the
Bible, the Word of God to help us understand God. Contained in the Bible are the Gospels which
provide a narrative of the teachings and works of Jesus who as God in the flesh
provided an example of how one can live a sinless life in a wicked world. However, after Jesus ascended, God did not
leave us alone in a wicked world but gave us the Holy Spirit who empowers us, gives
us counsel and helps us interpret the Bible (Acts
1:8; Acts 2:1-4; John 14:26). I pray
that all reading this connect with God through His Word so we can better fight
the good fight of faith (1
Timothy 6:11-12).
No comments:
Post a Comment