Year 8, Day 326: 1 Timothy 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I love what 1 Timothy 6 has to offer.  It begins with a quick discussion about bondservants who are under Christian masters.  Note that Paul tells them to serve even more hard and not become bitter.  Clearly Paul is sending a message that it is far more important for us to do the work well that is set in front of us than get hung up on the fairness and equity in life. 

The reality is that life will never be fair.  There will always be someone who has to work harder than me and not get as much as I do; there will be others who work less hard than I do and who get more.  What’s important isn’t any of that.  What’s important is that I make the best of the opportunity that is in front of me regardless of whether it is an easy or a tough situation.

Then Paul turns back again to a discussion about staying the course in faith.  I always feel nervousness when I read through passages like this because I tend to look for things that are broken and fix them rather than play the traditional safe route.  I tend to be a boat-rocker who thinks outside of the box instead of a person who looks nostalgically at the awesomeness of what is.  So I hear Paul’s words about sticking to truth and sound doctrine and I wonder what it looks like to go astray.  It’s easier to stick with the comfortable tradition, but it isn’t in me to not always be looking for what could get even better.

This is when I remind myself that sound doctrine is different than tradition and history.  When Jesus came and taught, He rocked quite a few boats and made a good number of people mad.  He stood up for righteousness, not tradition.  I’m not saying that we are wrong if we aren’t rocking the boat.  What I am saying is that our teaching should be focused on Christ.  If that rocks the boat, then so be it.

As we move to the end of this passage, I think we get to the crux of the issue for Paul and Timothy’s context.  We shouldn’t be loves of money.  The love of money is the root of all evil.  It is for this love of money that people wander away from the truth.  There are people who are changing their teaching so that they make people happy by letting them hear what they want to hear.  When people hear what they want to hear, they are happy and they tend to be more supportive and generous.  What Paul is concerned about is that people are teaching for the audience rather than for the truth.

In the end, we should be pursuing righteousness.  We should fight the good fight.  When we stand before God, it won’t matter how popular we are.  It won’t matter how many friends we made along the way.  Like I said in the very beginning, what will matter is if we made the best out of the situation that God has given us.  Did we do the right thing and preach truth in every circumstance?  That’s what will cause God to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

Of course we are saved through God’s grace and not through our works.  That being said, I still want to be a part of doing the will of the Father.  I can’t save myself, only God can do that.  I can focus on doing what I can do in looking for where God is at work and joining Him there.

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