Teach with Your Life

SCRIPTURE: 2 Kings 8-9; 2 Chr. 21; 1 Tim. 4

1 Timothy 4:6-14
You’ve been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the followers of Jesus there, and you’ll be a good servant of Jesus. Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart. This is why we’ve thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We’re banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers.

Get the word out. Teach all these things. And don’t let anyone put you down because you’re young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed—keep that dusted off and in use.

OBSERVATIONS: Disciplined living means scheduled living. These words are a timeless call to remain engaged.

APPLICATION: Joey, get on the stick, will you? Daily, it says. DAILY. No excuses. Get on it.

PRAYER: Lord, let my hunger for your word become that of a man starving for food in the wilderness and thirsting for pure water in the desert. Help my acknowledgement of this need become the felt need that will drive me. May I be compelled by the wounds of your Son, in whose name I pray, Amen.