Good Morning Everyone
Today is Thursday February 9th, 2012
The word of the day will come from my sister in Christ and good friend, Cherlita Claiborne...
Passage of Scripture for The Word Of the Day:
2 Timothy2: 19-22 NLT
(vs 19) " But God's truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his, and all who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil. (vs 20) In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions and the cheap ones are for everyday use. (vs 21) If you keep yourself pure, you will be special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. (vs22) Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Instead pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.
My interpretation of the text:
This is a very interesting passage of scriptures I had a chance to review and study during my personal time with God. I have read this passage over and over again, but it was something about this time, that made some things leap out at me differently. First off I love how Paul through the inspiration of God hermeneutically utilized symbolism in comparison with fine China relating to those that walk up right before God and how God save them to be used for special occasions (as you would fine dining china) for honorable use. Paul clearly reminds us that in order for this to take place that our lives must be clean, we must exemplify and pursue righteous living, be faithful and we must love.
So now lets go back a little to the beginning of the passage. When it comes to the pursuit of spiritual growth or personal holiness, the body of believers known as the church is a key component. For one thing having genuine relationships with other believers who are pursuing personal holiness is important for faith to grow. We don’t grow best in isolation. The best growth and protection against destructive forces such as false teaching is healthy relationships with one another as the body of Christ, the church.
By being and staying closely connected to a church we have “God’s solid foundation” for taking two personal protective actions when they are needed (vv. 19b and 22a). First, Paul states in v.19b, according to the New International version “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” The word “wickedness” refers to anything (environments, temptations, attitudes, …) which run counter to the character of God. Paul says, “turn away” from such environments or circumstances which will influence you to live in contradiction to God’s character as revealed in scripture. Secondly, Paul says in v.22a, “Flee the evil desires of your youth, …”. You not only need to protect yourself on a literal front from things that will lead you away from God (v.19b) but “flee” the very desires within you which will lead to the same result better known as or corresponds to a spiritual drift from God. Both “turn away” and “flee” mean to take these actions aggressively and consistently.
The pursuit of personal holiness entails first a defensive, protective posture. You are more likely to be aware of things that cause spiritual drift when you are intimately connected to a body of believers seeking to grow in their faith as you are. We are called in part to protect one another as the body of Christ.
Here’s the deal, Paul is clearly expressing the importance of sanctification; the need for “those who are his" to “turn away from wickedness”, pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. We must get rid of the ignoble (which refers to not honorable in character or purpose) junk. It is non-negotiable in a sense that this is the only way IF we are to be useful to God. We must cleanse ourselves, flee evil desires, and pursue righteousness. This takes effort and realistically doesn't happen over night. It takes a deep desire to live for God and not ourselves. Without Christ we couldn’t do these things. However, if we are in Christ we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. We have his grace that teaches us to say no to dishonorable character. We have real victory, today, in Christ. I am a witness and I believe with all my heart that I am his and I want to and must be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to Jesus Christ and prepared to do any good work for his glory. We're not perfect but Got solidified that when he died on the cross so that one day we will have that opportunity to be perfect just as HE is. Therefore, out of love and obedience for Him, in Christ and only by his grace, it is our obligation and duty to continue to battle this flesh and turn away from wickedness. God provides our way to an escape but we have to be willing to follow his navigational system to be FREE from the bondage of sin, so we can be that Fine China ready for honorable use by God that Paul is referring to in (vs) 22. Got Fine China? 2Timothy 2:19-22 shows us the blueprint on how to exemplify it! :)
Be blessed,
Cherlita
Sent from my iPad
Have a wonderful, blessed, productive, stress free day!
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