From 1 Timothy 1:3-11

In these verses, there are two closely related pieces of wisdom that Paul relays to Timothy.  First is to make sure people aren’t teaching different doctrine in the congregation and second is to use the Law appropriately.

Paul tells Timothy to avoid different doctrine, devotion to myths and genealogies, and vain discussions. There are some voices within churches that would like to downplay doctrine or reduce confessional identity (how upfront the church is about what it believes).  The Bible would disagree!  Good, faithful doctrine is incredibly important.  Anything less “exchanges the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25). Sometimes that doctrine will offend – because faithful doctrine identifies sin and calls sinners to repentance – but that does not mean we should ignore or downplay it.  Sometimes that doctrine will offend – because faithful doctrine doesn’t let us do whatever we want to do – but that does not mean we should ignore or downplay it.

Paul continues by discussing the appropriate use of the Law.  He notes that it isn’t for the just but for the lawless, disobedient, ungodly, and sinners. That means that the Law is for each and every one of us.  The Law guides our lives, tells us what we should and shouldn’t do, and leads us to repentance.  The Law is part of good, faithful doctrine and makes people uncomfortable – that does not mean we ever leave it behind.

So we seek out leaders in the church who are faithful to the Word of God and to good doctrine – even if that doctrine makes us uncomfortable or challenges us, maybe especially if that doctrine challenges us. 

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that Jesus graciously washes away our sins to give us a clear conscience.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to seek leaders who teach faithful doctrine and challenge us when we disobey the Law of God.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for the Christian leaders in your life.
• Confess to God the times where you don’t live up to His standards for life, faith, and leadership.
• Ask God to bless His church with good, faithful leaders.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From 1 Timothy 1:1-2

This devotion is the first in the next series we’ll be going through with these written devotions and we’ll be focusing on the books of 1 and 2 Timothy.  Today our verses are simply Paul’s greeting to Timothy.  It provides us with an opportunity to give some rudimentary background on Paul, Timothy, and these epistles.

Paul was not always a Christian. In fact, he aggressively persecuted Christians as a leading member of the Jewish political scene at the time.  While he was doing that, God confronted him and he converted to Christianity.  Paul was a Roman citizen and well educated.  These traits allowed him to make his way around much of the ancient world, planting churches and sharing the Gospel wherever he landed.  He also wrote extensively, authoring many of the epistles (letters) in the New Testament.

Timothy was a young leader in the church who was a gifted pastor.  He served the Christians at Ephesus as they struggled with chaos, false teaching, and false teachers.

Paul writes to Timothy to advise him on how to deal with the difficulties facing his congregation. His letters include wisdom for church leadership, worship, confrontation, and setting an example. The book of 1st Timothy is the first of three pastoral epistles (books with wisdom directed towards leaders in the church).

Regardless of your role in the congregation, these letters contain wisdom for all of us in whatever leadership roles we have – and gives us an image to live up to.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously blesses His church with leaders.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to lead faithfully wherever God has put us in positions to lead.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for the Christian leaders in your life.
• Confess to God the times where you don’t live up to His standards for life, faith, and leadership.
• Ask God to bless His church with good, faithful leaders.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From James 5:7-12

“Patience is a virtue.” Many of us have heard that phrase at some point in our lives, and it’s true – not necessarily helpful – but true nonetheless.  Patience is a fruit of the spirit and something that we are supposed to cultivate as Christians.  That being said, a lot of times when we talk about patience we are thinking in the short term.  We are thinking we’ll have to wait for a few days, or a few weeks, or a few months, or (if we’re extra good at patience) a few years.  But James reframes that for us a little bit saying, “be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.”  Patient if suffering until the second coming of Jesus – which could be after our lives as we view them now are over!

There are times where we might encourage one another to be patient in suffering and point each other to our God that can alleviate our suffering.  That’s great, but I think it’s also worthwhile to temper expectations. God might miraculously heal you, He might dramatically remove the source of your suffering, and He might do it in the short term.  On the other hand, you might have to live with that suffering until Jesus returns. In the meantime, we remain steadfast in our faith and consistently point towards the compassion and mercy of Christ – even if we don’t experience that restoration until the second coming.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously promises us full and perfect restoration.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to expand the scope of our patience.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for the restoration He promises.
• Confess to God the times where you become discouraged because your expectations weren’t met.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to conform you to Christ.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From James 5:1-6

Despite the title of this section of verses, I don’t think James is opposed to a Christian being wealthy. The problem he addresses here is what someone might do to get their wealth and the priorities they had in their life to accrue their riches.  Ultimately, whatever form wealth takes, it will fade away.  Riches will rot, garments will wear out, currency will lose value, everything eventually turns to nothing.  If the sole focus on your life is to gain those riches, they will turn up empty in the end.  And if you defrauded or cheated others to get your wealth, you will regret it.  Riches are fine, riches being the most important thing is not.  Riches are fine, getting rich by treating others badly is not.

This is true of wealth and of so many other things in our lives.  Many things are fine, but making anything but God the most important things in our lives is not.  Many things are fine, but getting them by treating others badly is not.  We are called and challenged, above all else, to love God with everything in us and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously gives us gifts that do not fade away.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to love God and love the people around us.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for the gift of the Gospel.
• Confess to God the times where you focus too much on things that aren’t Him.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to conform you to Christ.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From James 4:13-17

If you’ve ever talked to me about future plans, you may have heard me respond flippantly something along the lines of “I’ll be there . . . unless, you know, I get hit by a meteor between now and then, in that case I will not be there.” It’s mostly a joke, because if I did actually get hit by a meteor I would probably not be making it to anything afterwards, but getting hit by a meteor seems pretty unlikely.

The humor that I’m overanalyzing relies on what James is talking about in these verses, we genuinely don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.  You can plan all you want and put everything into place, but ultimately it is up to God whether something is going to happen or not.  That isn’t to say we shouldn’t plan for the future, but we should never have the arrogance to ignore God’s will overcoming anything we might do.  James closes this section by saying “whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is a sin.” We never know what will happen in the future, so when the opportunity to do the right thing is in front of us, we should always take advantage of it.  That way, no matter what else happens, we can say that we did right with the time we were given.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously is in control of our future, it is in His hands.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to do right whenever we have the opportunity.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for taking care of you up to this point.
• Confess to God the times where you put off doing the right thing.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to conform you to Christ.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious