Friday, April 5, 2019

PAUL'S FATHERLY ADVICE TO TIMOTHY

My Dear Precious Child,
   After Paul reinforced to Timothy the importance of praying in the Holy Spirit, he launched into some practical suggestions or instructions on how to make sure that Timothy's witness for Christ was not impeded by some bad behavior.  The first thing that he wrote was to tell Timothy not to speak harshly to an older person but instead Paul advised him to speak to them as if he were speaking to his own parents.  Also, Paul advised Timothy to treat younger people as his brothers and to treat young women with propriety, as if they were his sisters. (I Timothy 5:1-2)  In addition he advised his student Timothy to be considerate of widows, stressing that he meant those who are truly widows.  He wrote that a woman who is a widow and is left without anybody can consecrate all of her days and nights to intercessory prayers and petitions.  He mentioned that a person who thinks only of pleasures is dead already while the person is still alive.  So he instructed Timothy to remind single people of this also, so that their lives might be blameless.  He wrote that anyone who does not look after his own relative who lives with him or her has rejected his own faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (I Timothy 5:3-8)
    Paul told Timothy how to discern whether a woman is a qualifying widow or not for help from the church.  He wrote that a woman must be 60 years old and has only had one husband, that she must be known for her good works and that she has raised her children to be reputable, that she has helped people who are in trouble and been active in every manner of good works.  Then Paul explained about his writing that the age of acceptance for a widow to be helped was 60.  He wrote that the church must not accept a young widow because her natural desires might get stronger than her dedication to Me and she will want to marry again.  Then people would condemn her for being unfaithful toward her original promise.  He said the young widows would probably become idle and go from house to house learning to be gossipers and meddlers in the affairs of other people and to chatter when they should be keeping quiet.  He wrote even more of his own opinions, for instance that it is best for a young widow to marry again, have children, have a home to keep and not give the devil a chance to raise a scandal about her.  Paul wrote that there were some women who had already left the congregation to follow satan.  In conclusion on his opinion of women, Paul said that if a Christian woman has widowed relatives, that she should support them and not make the church become the burden bearer for her but instead the church would be able to support the older women who were true widows. (I Timothy 5:9-16)
    Paul had left behind elders in the church who were to take care of specific duties. He wanted them to be given double consideration, especially if they are dedicated to preaching and teaching.  In dealing with problems in the congregation, Paul told Timothy never to accept an accusation against an elder unless the accusation is supported by two or three witnesses.  He said if an elder is at fault, that Timothy should bring him before the congregation and reprimand them publicly, as a warning to the rest of the people.  Paul wrote that it was before Me, before Christ Jesus and the angels that he put these rules impartially to Timothy, telling him never to be partial to anyone.  He advised Timothy not to lay hands on anyone too quickly so as to never make himself a partaker in the sins of anyone.  He emphasized to Timothy to keep himself pure.  The devil was using the Pharisees, the political leaders and the religious leaders to spy on the freedom that My children of promise were enjoying, plus they were jealous of their joy, their love and their faith.  Paul was warning Timothy not to just vicariously ordain a man who was young in spiritual matters or his youth would bring shame upon the body of Christ. (I Timothy 5:17-22) 
    The instructions from Paul to Timothy were not claimed by him to come directly from Me.  Many of them were more practical instead of spiritual and came from Paul's experience.  However, the instruction about do not neglect to pray in the Holy Spirit came directly from Me through the Holy Spirit as a way to bring My blessings into his life, and for you into your life (I Timothy 4:14-15)
    Timothy had a problem with digestion so Paul told him to stop drinking only water and instead to drink a little wine for his stomach ailments. (I Timothy 5:23) 
    Paul wrote that the faults that some people do are obvious long before anyone has a complaint about them, while the faults of other people are discovered long after their actions.  He said it's the same way with the good that people do, it can be known to other people at the time; but if not, then the good cannot be hidden forever.   He was encouraging Timothy to always choose to do good actions toward people.  He wanted Timothy to know that he could either bring glory to Me or he could bring shame to Me by his actions.
    There are death and destruction as rewards from the devil when people do his works in the world.  There are rewards from Me and My kingdom of heaven when a person does loving, kind, considerate and merciful actions toward others. (Hebrews 11:6)  Making the right choice is always important.  It's the difference between having heaven or hell while you live in the earth.
    Your Father of Multitudes of Blessings      

No comments: