Timothy's Thoughts

I n I Timothy 1:18-I Timothy 2:11 Paul writes concerning not getting away from holding faith and a good conscience. He warns Timothy of the potential of becoming shipwrecked in that way and give the example of Hymenaeus and Alexander. But rather than allowing himself to become shipwrecked also, Paul tells Timothy how to avoid it. His first instruction is prayer be made for all men. He mentions supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks. These are all types of what we would call prayer. Paul makes special mention of government leaders. When we pray it doesn’t always seem like we’re doing that much, but prayer should be a priority. It should come first. Prayer for all men will help us to have a quiet and peaceable life, but it is clearly something God wants us to do. Paul points out that God wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. If for no other reason, we should be praying for other people because God wants them to be saved. I don’t th...

A s Paul continues his first letter to Timothy ( I Timothy 1:12-17 ) he marvels at how the Lord put him in the ministry. We don’t think about that enough. We’re all in the same boat. It’s easy for us to think that we’re something special because we’re actually doing the work that God has called us to do while other people aren’t doing what they should. But we read what Paul is saying here and he is amazed that God would count him faithful and put him in the ministry. Think about this. If you owned a business and you found out that one of your employees was taking money from the cash register, would you trust that employee to carry your money to the bank? Would you even let that employee do anything other than maybe stock shelves? It isn’t likely. And yet, God has take those of us who have sinned against him and are worthy of punishment, and he has put us in the ministry. Look at what happened with the angels. Those who sinned were thrown out of heaven. God could have used the faithfu...

P aul begins his first letter to Timothy ( I Timothy 1:1-11 ) with a reminder of why he left Timothy at Ephesus. Paul had gone off to do other things, but he wanted someone to stay behind to teach the Christians at Ephesus sound doctrine. Paul is asking Timothy to continue to do what Paul had asked him to do. In much of the rest of the letter, we learn what Paul believes is sound doctrine. Paul encourages Timothy to avoid fables and endless genealogies that promote questions. So often, people come up with some of the strangest things. They’ll tell stories about something they saw or something they heard and then try to make some kind of doctrinal sense out of it. Someone will think they’ve seen an angel or they’ll have heard someone talking about the end of the world on television or who knows what and then they have to bring it up and ask questions about. It is easy to get drawn into trying understand whatever it is and then trying to answer the questions, but in the end it does lit...

T he Bible talks about working for rewards. This has nothing to do with salvation, other than only those who have been saved will be rewarded for their good works. We sometimes think that God shouldn’t be paying us for our good works, since Jesus has already done more for us than we can even imagine. Perhaps we think it is more spiritual of us if we serve God without thought of reward. But the Bible tells us to lay up treasure in heaven. Whatever we think of the concept of working for rewards, God thinks it is a good idea. Perhaps it would be helpful if we would look at it a different way. Forget about the reward God will give you, for a moment, and think about some of those great godly servants you have encountered. Perhaps some of them have already gone on to be with the Lord. You saw how they served the Lord greatly. Now think about some of these people who have been saved, but they hardly ever come to church. They might do something for the Lord occasionally, but not very often. ...

O n the way home the other day I heard a preacher on the radio talking about what heaven would be like. He said something along the lines of “in heaven it will be like one big worship service.” Then he said, “You may think that sounds boring, but it won’t be. Some people think worship services are boring, but I’ve never seen a worship service that was boring when Jesus was in the center of it.” He then went on to talk about heaven being a continual state of worship. Is that what heaven will be like? I realize that we’ll see things differently than we do now, so some of the things we think will be boring may be things we will enjoy there, much like many of the things adults enjoy children find boring. Even if that is true, I find it hard to believe that heaven if going to be one continual worship service. If we carry the child example a little farther, don’t we adults still enjoy some of the same things that children do? I enjoy a good worship service as much as anybody, but an eterna...

A ngels fascinate people. People have written hundreds of stories about angels. Most of these stories have very little basis in reality. If the stories are to be believed, angels have big white wings made of feathers, they only wear white, and they spend a lot of their time sitting on clouds playing the harp. Occasionally, they come to earth to help someone out, fall in love, and decide to give up being an angel and be mortal instead. Some of these stories are entertaining, but the characters they portray have no more basis in reality than Santa Claus. What is real? The Bible has a lot to say about angels and yet it leaves much left unsaid. In appearance, we know that at least some of them look like men, at least part of the time. Some appear to have wings—that is if we classify cherubim as angels. David sung of the Lord mounting the cherubim and flying. That brings to mind a different picture than we normally have. The seraphim have six wings—two to cover their face, two to cover th...

O ne of the most powerful ways you can show someone that you care is actually one of the most simple. Sit beside them. I sing in the choir at church, so I have a good view of the whole auditorium as people make their way to their seats before the worship service. There’s always a few people who come in a little late—usually visitors or people who don’t attend very often. They walk in the door and look around. There’s usually at least a couple of seats available close to the aisle, but they don’t sit there. They bypass that and chose another pew—a pew with several people sitting there. The whole family climbs over the legs of two or three other people and they pack the pew as full as it can be. This might seem strange until you realize that the family matriarch was already seated on that pew. I’ve seen some of the teachers in our church work in, see some class member who is sitting off by herself and purposefully choose to sit next to that person. Even if they don’t say a word, I’m ...