1 Timothy 6:11–12 (NKJV)
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
As children of God, we should look different than the world, we should speak differently than the world, and we should act differently than the world. Why? Because our hope lies in an entirely different place than our worldly counterparts. I love the way Paul demonstrates the difference between worldly men in verses 9-10 and godly men in 11-12, difference should be immediately evident.
Man Of The World
1 Timothy 6:9–10 describes the worldly man… (9) But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. (10) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows… Does Paul not hit the nail square in the head? Before Christ, I can see myself in all of these things. Pushed by money and success, pride and ambition, driven to do anything to succeed. All of this, of course, led to many temptations and harmful lusts. The exact opposite of what a godly man or woman should look like.
Man Of God
Instead of looking like a man of the world, we are encouraged to act like a man of God. Where does this start? It starts with a deep dedication to the Lord and seeking His commandments, putting His will above our own in every sense of the word. The funny thing is, a life dedicated to His commandments and His will actually lead to a life well-live, instead of a life of pain and misery the world has for us.
Righteousness
We are called to be righteous, thankfully we have a good example in Christ. 1 John 3:7 offers us the following… (7) Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous… We must be Christians that are following Christ in everything we do. We certainly want to be right before God!
Love
1 Corinthians 13:4–5 is usually used in wedding ceremonies but should be a constant reminder of what our lives should look like to the outside world… (4) Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (5) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil… If we are living for Christ, we should be loving everyone around us with longsuffering, without envy, and should never behave rudely. Even the world can love this way, what does that say about us if we are unable to do the same?
Fight The Good Fight
I love that Paul reminds Timothy that this walk with the Lord, being a true child of God, will not be all cupcakes and roses. We are in for a fight, we are guaranteed that it will not be an easy road to travel. However, if we want to live a life well-lived, we must dig in and fight the good fight of faith. It will be well worth it in the end!
Closing Thoughts:
We have a choice, we can live a worldly life leading to harmful lust and destruction or we can live a life dedicated to our Lord and Savior. When we truly compare the two, it should be a very easy decision to make!
Joshua 24:15 (NKJV)
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
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