This morning I did make it back to the fitness center for a workout. It was good to see John and Ben two of my friends who are always such a great encouragement.\u00a0 Sometimes we need the perspective of others to help us see and appreciate the progress we are making.<\/p>\n
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…\u00a0 <\/strong>“Fight the good fight for the faith;<\/span> take hold of eternal life<\/span>…\u00a0<\/sup>Instruct them [those who are rich] to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share,\u00a0<\/span>storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real.”<\/span> <\/em>1 Timothy 6:12,18-19 HCSB<\/p>\n Paul’s instructions to Timothy are direct and to the point. As he comes to the close of his first letter to Timothy, the commands given are intended to keep this young minister focused on what matters most. It appears that even in the first century the lure of wealth and the things of this world were strong.<\/p>\n There has always been the temptation to define the “good life” and contentment in terms of monetary measures or possessions. Paul directs Timothy to focus on the eternal over the temporary. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and told them that he himself focused on the eternal over the temporal. He said, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.<\/em>“<\/em> (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV) Now as he writes to Timothy he reminds him, “But godliness with contentment is a great gain.\u00a0<\/span>For we brought nothing into the world, <\/span>and we can take nothing out. <\/span>But if we have food and clothing, <\/span>we will be content with these.”<\/span> <\/em>(1 Timothy 6:6-8 HCSB)<\/p>\n The gravitational pull to that which is of this life is great. Distractions and misplaced priorities are a danger. As a result Paul admonishes Timothy, “But you, man of God, run from these things, <\/span>and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, <\/span>love, endurance, and gentleness.<\/span> Fight the good fight for the faith; <\/span>take hold of eternal life…”<\/span><\/em> (1 Timothy 6:11,12 HCSB)<\/span><\/p>\n The success of the Christian life is to know what to “run” from, what to “pursue” and how to “fight” the right battles. When we apply the wrong strategy to the wrong arena, it results in trouble. For example, Paul told Timothy to “flee temptation, not fight it. We are to fight for the “faith” not fight each other. We are to pursue righteousness, not worldly ambition.<\/p>\n Finally, what Paul tells Timothy to remind those with wealth, applies to us all, “…Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share,<\/span><\/em> storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real.”<\/em> (1 Timothy 6:18,19 HCSB) <\/span><\/p>\n What we find of importance is not what we possess, but what possesses us. It is the importance of our attitude and how we view life, ourselves and others. We can all “take hold of life that is real.” <\/em>That “real” life is found in our relationship with Christ, living for Him and keeping eternity in view.<\/p>\n Prayer for Today…\u00a0<\/strong>“Lord allow me to take to heart Paul’s instructions to Timothy. Help me to focus on that which really matters and to seek “real” life. Help me to remember what to run from, what to pursue and what to fight for.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This morning I did make it back to the fitness center for a workout. It was good to see John and Ben two of my friends who are always such a great encouragement.\u00a0 Sometimes we need the perspective of others to help us see and appreciate the progress we are making. BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3273,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3272\/revisions\/3273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span><\/p>\n