Paul
the apostle gave Timothy a “charge in the
sight of God, who quickens all things, and before
Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;”
as he instructed him to “fight the good
fight of faith” and
“lay hold on eternal life” .
In chapter six and verse fourteen of his letter to Timothy, Paul
continued his charge by sharing the manner in which he was to “keep
this commandment” where we read:
until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
The verse begins, “That
you keep this
commandment without spot, unrebukeable,” Paul
began this verse with a strong emphasis to Timothy, “that
you keep” which
means “attend to carefully, take care of and guard” “this
commandment”
or “order, charge, precept and injunction” “without
spot”
which means “spotlessly and free from censure,
reproach, vice and unsullied”. Paul also added, “unrebukeable”
which means “not apprehended, cannot be laid hold of or
reprehended”. The “commandment”
to “fight the good fight, lay hold on
eternal life” and profess “a
good profession before many witnesses” was
too valuable to be “spotted”
and “rebukeable”.
The
verse goes on to say, “until the appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ:” Paul also added
a time limit for Timothy to “keep this commandment”
as he wrote, “until”
or “as far as or to the time of” “the appearing”
which refers to “an appearance, manifestation or advent” “of
our Lord” which means “master
who deserves the title of honor expressive of respect and
reverence with which servants greet their master” “Jesus”
whose name means “Jehovah is Salvation” “Christ” or
“the anointed one of God who is the Messiah”. Timothy was to keep
“this commandment” until the Lord Jesus Christ returned to
the earth in His second advent.
When we ponder
Paul's words in this verse, we too should be challenged to “keep
this commandment” “without spot” and “unrebukeable”
in this world. The idea is that others are watching our lives, and
they are examining whether we “fight the good fight” and
“lay hold on eternal life” or not. We must profess “a
good profession before many witnesses” as we represent the Lord
Jesus Christ and His work of grace upon the hearts and lives of men
and women. Only as we hear this “charge” personally will
we be inspired to ask the Heavenly Father for his aid in helping us
to represent Him as Paul has instructed, and since we need His help,
He is ready with an ample supply.
Next
time Paul shares concerning “the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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