“Christian Duties”
1 Timothy 6:10-12 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But thou, O man of God, Flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
As space permits, I am going to cover about four Christian duties that we find in these three verses. There are four words I will use in this article that Paul used to challenge young Timothy in his ministry. We can all apply these four words to help us in our Christian walk.
The first word is Flee - v. 11 tells us to “flee these things,” and it goes back to verse 3 through 5. So we are warned of some things to run from.
Verse three speaks of Unwholesome words that are not of the Lord Jesus Christ, words that do not edify.
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” I give some examples of unwholesome words.
Proud words - Possessing a high or unreasonable conceit of one's own excellence, either of body or mind.
Words of strife - Exertion or contention for superiority.
Envious words - Ill will at others, on account of some supposed superiority.
Railing words - Expressing reproach; insulting.
Words of evil surmising - suspecting or imagining upon little evidence.
Not only are we warned to flee unwholesome words, but also Perverse Disputings, which are defined as: Obstinate in the wrong; disposed to be contrary; stubborn; untractable. Contending by words or arguments; controversy; altercation.
Then the people who use unwholesome words, which are words of disputing are identified in verse 5: They are Men of Corrupt minds.
They are Destitute of truth: With this comes wrong suppositions: “supposing that gain is godliness.” The last part of verse five tells us plainly “from such turn away.” You cannot argue with them because they are destitute of spiritual truth and cannot grasp it.
Next week, I will try to cover the second of four words in this lesson: We will look at the word “Follow.” Have a great week.