BY JACK WARD
PASTOR, TOMAHAWK MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
If anyone can give us good advice, it would be someone who has been there and done that. If you want to give someone advice on how to drive a car, you had better be a good driver.
Did you know that there is no school for suicide bombers? They can’t find any experienced instructors.
Paul gives some things to think about here as far as how to live the Christian life. Paul was qualified to advise because he had suffered much for Christ and had seen God work in his life.
In 1 Timothy 6:6, Paul advised Timothy that godliness with contentment is great gain. Contentment means peace with satisfaction. How many people have that today?
Can you be godly and not be content? Contentment comes from being Godly or Godlike. A Godly person has these qualities of God: Love, mercy, faithfulness, truth and peace or contentment. Paul says that to be content is to be Godly, and that is worth more than anything in this world.
Paul advised Timothy to be Godly. Paul also advised Timothy to fight. 1 Timothy 6:12: “Fight the good fight of faith.” This is a fight that we are in – the fight of our lives. We don’t fight physically, but our war is with the principalities and powers that would destroy us and our faith. Jude 1:3: “… and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” We should be earnest about our fight. It is the most important thing we can do. Most everyone and everything is against our faith and trust in Christ. So we must have courage and strength from the Lord.
Did you know that we fight against ourselves sometimes? We are so prone to look at things with our own eyes instead of the eyes of faith. Read Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter. By faith and trust in God, the people listed in Chapter 11 became successful and victorious in God’s eyes.
You that have had bad things happen to you should rejoice! You have been given an opportunity to be counted as successful and victorious in God’s view
How?
By your faith!
Paul also advised Timothy to “lay hold on eternal life.” (1 Timothy 6:12)
We stumble and we fall but we don’t give up, and we don’t turn back. That’s what laying hold on eternal life means – we don’t back down and we don’t quit.
Like two puppies fighting, you can smack, kick and spray them, but they will not let go. That’s how we should be.
This doesn’t mean we hold on to Christ, but that we hold on to our faith. Christ will never falter in our salvation, but we can falter in our faith. Lay hold on to faith.
My advice to you is to follow Paul’s advice.
Hear Pastor Jack’s sermons and more at tomahawkmbc.com.