1 Timothy 1: 1 I, Paul, am an apostle on special assignment for Christ, our living hope. Under God our Savior's command, 2 I'm writing this to you, Timothy, my son in the faith. All the best from our God and Christ be yours! 3 On my way to the province of Macedonia, I advised you to stay in Ephesus. Well, I haven't changed my mind. Stay right there on top of things so that the teaching stays on track. 4 Apparently some people have been introducing fantasy stories and fanciful family trees that digress into silliness instead of pulling the people back into the center, deepening faith and obedience. 5 The whole point of what we're urging is simply love - love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. (The Message)
What's at the center of your life? It is easy to let several things or people take the center of our lives, but where does the love for God fall? This first letter of Timothy is written by Paul to the young Timothy, a believer, whom Paul considered "My son in the faith." Paul loved him and had confidence in him and had been given an assignment by Paul to stay with the believers in Ephesus. This is the church that received the letter which is the book Ephesians. Though they believed in Jesus, they had recently been introduced to what Paul calls in this version, "fantasy stories and fanciful family trees," whose purpose served no godly aim. Paul says they served only to "digress into silliness instead of pulling the people back into the center, deepening faith and obedience." There is the theme for our study. The center of our life should be Jesus Christ and His love for us. We should be about sharing that love, a love that Paul further defines as "love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God." Notice that word "self-interest." That's the main cause behind many of the problems we face as individuals and as churches. We have a natural tendency to watch out for ourselves and to want to survive. But we also sometimes just want to put ourselves and our passions first. Self-centeredness means we put ourselves at the center and by doing so replace God. A person who is solely in love with him/herself cannot love like s/he should. A self-loving person is obedient only to oneself. On top of that, imagine being pulled away by "fanciful family tree" and "fantasy stories." Such was the challenge faced by Timothy in this assignment. Our assignment is to closely examine our heart and our life. Is God and God's love at the center of your life? Do you consider your life open to God, willing to serve God and God's people?
My prayer is that as we study this letter, that we would see it as a letter written either to us or about us. May it truly speak to our hearts and minds and let us examine where we find ourselves and where we know God would rather us be.
PRAYER: Loving God, may my love be for You and Yours. May we seek to be obedient and drawn closer to the center. Life on the fringe is not a happy life. May my life be open to you is my prayer, which I pray in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
