1 Timothy 6:11-12
But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and about which you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Here in this passage to Timothy, Paul is speaking to the believers. Through fruits of our faith, you would have us do what is right so that we chase after these godly qualities. James tells us that a good tree produces good fruit. Paul uses a term often translated into English as “pursue,” but here, it has the concept of hunting something down. He does not want us to make a half-hearted attempt to look for godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Instead, he wants us to search for this like we are in a war, and these qualities are the flag we must capture. The fight is against our sinful side because it is opposed to these qualities and wants nothing to do with them. By nature, our wicked side desires to chase after those things that give us sinful pleasures. We see others being godless and are captivated by their lawlessness; it may repulse us. Still, we keep watching their actions on the news. Our faith is in ourselves and what we can do. In our evilness, the love that we have for others is superficial. We only love ourselves. We will apply passion to others as long as I get something out of this relationship. For example, we see people jump in and out of marriages that suit their own desires. Our perseverance is as long as my attention span holds, then it is off to the next shiny object. By nature, our gentleness is quick to snap at anyone around us, and that is on a good day, watch out when we are having a bad day. This is our typical nature. We wonder why the world seems to have gone crazy when they do not know you, Lord.
Lord, help us to fight the good fight of faith and grab hold of eternal life. So, we can pursue the righteousness that you have given us. Let our faith be dependent upon Jesus and the salvation he has given to the world. Let our pursuit be for godly actions, so we can demonstrate to the world the faith, in Jesus’s actions, that comes from the Holy Spirit. Let us hunt down faith through your word that the Holy Spirit can work in our hearts. Through faith, let us love you and others more than we love ourselves, and through this love, we will gain perseverance and gentleness. Let us search how to endure this life and be gentle to all people around us, even our enemies. Paul tells us we already made the good confession when the Holy Spirit called us to believe. It is only by your Holy Spirit’s help that we can pursue all this as believers, give us the strength to do so. Amen.
Roger Emmons
Pastor
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
The fight is on; grab hold of eternal life like your life depends upon it because it does!