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.