Oct. 21

1 Timothy 6

I like how Paul sums up the Christian life in verses 11 and 12 "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 the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."  Here's where my love for reading comes in.  I noticed that he used active verbs to describe and define our walk of faith.  Much like playing a sport, walking in faith requires training and exercise.  He uses verbs like flee, flight, and take hold of.  When I thought about it, he wasn't telling us to take hold of anything in this life, he was telling us to stay focused on our our eternal life.  Our awareness of God is supposed to be constant - whether we are in prayer and worship or at work, we are called to keep our eyes fixed on the eternal, not on the temporary.  To me, that defines faith.  It is also very difficult because there is nothing passive about following Christ.  All of the verbs used by Paul in regards to our faith require action.  I pray for all of us today, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, God pours into us supernatural strength to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and fight the good fight of faith.  I pray Lord we continue to flee from the love this world offers us in the form of money and material things and help us distinguish between our wants and our needs.  You Lord supply our needs.  Give us strength Lord to be active participants in the Body of Christ and step out in faith, releasing Your Kingdom into this world.  I pray everything we do today be done and said with faith in You.



Randi