BLESSINGS IN PRACTICING KINDNESS

My Dear Precious Child, One of Paul's spiritual bits of advice to his protege' Timothy was to never censure an older man; instead to appeal to him as if he were your father. He added with good spiritual advice relating to treating younger men as brothers and younger women as sisters, as well as treating older women as if they were your mothers, and all of that with purity of heart, meaning kindness toward all people. (I Timothy 5:1-2) How to treat widows in the churches had become a cause of concern to the members and leaders because some members were of the opinion that some of the widows were taking advantage of the funds set aside for helping the widows. Paul, in order not to create dissension, gave them his own advice. He advised Timothy to honor the claims of the widows who were real widows, being alone and in poverty. He said if the widows had children or grandchildren, that those relatives should learn the joy of providing for their mother or grandmother. He wrote that that's the way that I desire things to work. However, the real widow, any woman who is completely destitute with no one to help her financially and has set her hopes on Me by continuing day and night in prayers and supplications to Me, she is due to be helped by the church. A widow who uses any of her funds in self indulgence leads a life of living death because of her selfishness. ( I Timothy 5:3-6) Paul laid out this edict to Timothy, a rule concerning widows: if anyone does not provide for his or her own relatives, and especially for members of his or her own immediate family, he or she has denied his faith in Me and is worse than a nonbeliever. Then Paul wrote that for a woman to be on the rolls as a widow, she should be not less than 60 years old, of a good character as shown by her deeds, that she was bringing up children, that she had washed the feet of believing visitors, had helped people in distress and had been eager to do every possible good work for others in the church. He advised Timothy not to enroll younger widows because their passions will eventually cause them to retreat from Christ and they will want to marry again. He labeled young widows as people who go from house to house wasting their own time, becoming busybodies and gossipers, talking about things they should not. Paul wrote that he would rather see the young widows remarry, have more children, keep house and give no one the right to speak ill of the Christians in the church. He wrote that some women had already turned away from the church and were serving the devil. There were more rules and comments from Paul about widows. He wrote that if a female church member has relatives who are widows, then she should not let them become a burden to the church, who should give freely to help the widows who are really in need with no help from relatives.(I Timothy 5:7-16) Concerning the ministers, Paul wrote that any man who does a good job as a leader deserves to be paid double, especially if he is preaching and teaching, saying a worker deserves his wages, according to the Scriptures. (Deuteronomy 25:4; I Timothy 5:17-18) Paul was concerning about Timothy's administrative and pastoral duties as set aside from his ministerial duties. Administrative and pastoral duties concerned believers and their relationships with each other and the furtherance of the church's ministry to the community. Ministerial duties related to Timothy's relationship with Me and his ability to relay My truths about My kingdom of God to other believers. As head of the church Timothy had to balance all of those duties. Many of Paul's rules and advice included some things he had learned as a Pharisee in the Jewish religion that related to administration. My new covenant included advice that is always tempered with love in honoring and vindicating people. Paul's attitude toward women, which he had originally received as a member of the Jewish elite, was later tempered by My Holy Spirit's truth about there being no difference between male and female in My kingdom of God. Eventually Paul's kind advice toward men also related to the women. Your Father or Sound New Advice