Flee and Pursue

"But as for you, O man of God, flee these things.  Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.  Fight the good fight of faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

1 Timothy 6:11-12

 

This is such a powerful, yet extremely difficult, word from God that Paul is charging us to walk in, in this portion of scripture above.  The first thing we are to do, we meaning children of God, meaning men and women called into the salvation of Jesus Christ, the first thing we are charged to do here by Paul is to flee.  Flee?  That's right, the very first thing Paul calls us to do in these verses is to flee.  Just before the portion above, Paul is warning his protege Timothy about false teachings.  He is warning him that there will be false "knowledge" being claimed as truth.  He is giving Timothy a clear warning, not to get wrapped up in these false teachings, that are rooted in lies, yet packaged as truth.  Paul says that these false doctrines will cause a man to be "puffed up with conceit and understanding nothing...he will have an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth" (1 Tim 6:4-5).  How much does this sound like the world we live in today?  All of the constant friction, quarrels about "truth", and unhealthy craving for controversy.  How of much of these words sound like the people around us, and, if we are honest, how much does this sound like us sometimes?  It is so easy to get caught up in the mindlessness of these frictions and controversies.  It is so easy to get sucked into all of the slander and deceptive talk that causes, "envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions".  This is why Paul says that the first thing the "man of God" is to do, is to FLEE.  We are to flee from these sort of conversations, we are to not get wrapped up and yoked with people that are constantly participating in these sorts of actions.  And more importantly we are to flee when we recognize this is happening.  Now sometimes we cannot physically flee, but we are certainly not to add to, or contribute to this type of false talk and teaching.  But then Paul gives us the remedy, the action that we are to take as followers of Jesus. And that is to "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness".  Now this is certainly a lofty list, but we are to pursue these things.  When you pursue something you chase after it, with hopes and the prospect of catching it at some point, but it is this thought of an ongoing pursuit and of chasing after these things that is to drive us to action.  We are not to stay in, participate, or add to false teaching and slander, but rather, we are to interject righteousness, godliness, faith, and love into these types of conversations and relationships.  We are approach these situations with patience, gentleness, and kindness, not with harsh words, pride, and anger.  We are to pursue these things, knowing and trusting, that we have been called to an eternal life, and that we are called to be a light of Christ to the world.  And we are called to "make good on the confession we made in the presence of many witness".  Children of God, listen to me, be mindful of the conversations and relationships you are participating in.  Are you adding to the controversy, strife, and friction?  Or are you being a light, and interjecting righteousness, love, kindness, and gentleness?  Pray and ask the Lord to search your heart, and to mold you to be a light in this ever troubling world around us.  This starts with us, from the inside, and as we pursue these things in our lives, I pray that it is for God's glory, and for our joy and peace.  Love you all!  Praying for you and yours!  Have a blessed day, it's your choice!