I Thank God For Paul

November 8-9
One day last week I was seeking the Lord's guidance on what to write, He spoke to my mind…."Check your heart?"

God loves the pure-hearted and well-spoken;

good leaders also delight in their friendship.

Proverbs 22:11

Somehow Paul's advice in 1 Timothy crossed my path and it was worth typing the passage up to put deep in  my heart.  I thank God for Paul!

I, Paul, am an apostle on special assignment for Christ, our living hope.  (That alone is filled with great wisdom for us to recall, when we reflect on our worth.)  Under God our Savior's command, I'm writing this to you, Timothy, my son in the faith.  (Another challenge, are we mentoring anyone in the faith.)

All the best from our God and Christ be yours!

Self-Appointed Experts on Life

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.  Apparently some people have been introducing fantasy stores and fanciful family trees that digress into silliness instead of pulling the people back into the center, deepening faith and obedience.

The whole point of what we're urging is simply love- love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God.  Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cup-de-sacs of gossip.  They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven't the remotest idea of what they're holding forth with such imposing eloquence.  It's true that moral guidance and counsel need to be given, but the way you say it and to whom you say it are as important as what you say.  It's obvious, isn't it, that the law code isn't primarily for people who live responsibly, but for the irresponsible, who defy all authority, riding roughshod over God, life, sex, truth, whatever!  They are contemptuous of this great Message I've been put in charge of by this great God.

I'ms so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry.  The only credentials I brought to it were invective and witch hunts with arrogance.  But I was treated mercifully because I did't know what  I was doing-didn't know Who I was doing it against!  Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me.  And all because of Jesus.

Here's a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I'm proof-Public Sinner Number One-of someone who cold never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off-evidence of his endless patience-to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever.