1 Timothy 6:11-12

But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Personal Challenge

This passage starts off by telling us to flee certain things and pursue godly things. What are we to flee from? Disputes and arguments. Pride. Envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, and useless wranglings. Also, the desire to be rich, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Sounds kind of like an indictment for the people of today, especially all those who proclaim to be Christians but pursue these things. As followers of Christ, we are to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. This is the good fight that we must engage in. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Sirach 22:27

Who will set a guard over my mouth,
And a prudent seal over my lips,
That I may not fall because of them,
And that my tongue may not destroy me?

Personal Challenge

Our mouth (and our keyboard) can cause us much grief. It is our responsibility to be prudent in what we say and apply diligence to always speaking the truth, especially when so many others have stooped to embracing and magnifying falsehoods as truth. It is far too easy to counter back with more falsehoods, but this does not set us apart and above the level that lies descends to. Always speaking and seeking the truth is hard work but it always pays dividends in the end. Glory be to God!

1 Timothy 6:6

Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

Personal Challenge

Isn’t contentment one of the greatest issues that we are dealing with today? We are seeing the chasm between the rich and the poor growing exponentially. We see those rich hoarding more and more. We see constant attacks on the poor and the indigent. It all comes down to greed and lack of contentment with that which one does have. We have lost the love for our neighbor that compels us to care for them. Lord, have mercy! If we truly desire godliness in our lives, we must become content with what we have and share of our abundance with those in need. Again, Lord, have mercy!

Sirach 21:26

The heart of fools is in their mouth,
But the mouth of the wise is in their heart.

Personal Challenge

We have come to a time where we can easily generate an extremely large audience for what we say. Social media has created platforms where any common person can easily communicate to thousands of people instantly. That makes this truism ever more important· We have seen hundreds of people impacted by erroneous statements such as “they are eating people’s pets”. We have witnessed 49% of those who voted for president swayed by falsehoods and unsupported proclamations. Sirach reminds us that from the heart of a fool comes words through their mouth that are foolish and not representative of a loving God. If we are to have wise and uplifting words flow from our mouths (or pens or keyboards) then our hearts must first be filled with love, grace, mercy, and kindness. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

1 Timothy 4:12

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

Personal Challenge

I have often used this verse to encourage youth to be strong in their faith because God can use the youth as well as any other. However, the real power in this verse can apply to all of us who are followers of Christ. We must be examples of who Jesus was and is. Our example must be in word and conduct. Our example most show others the love of God in spirit, faith, and purity. We cannot proclaim to be Christians and treat others without love. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Sirach 21:1-3

My son, have you sinned?
No longer add to them, but pray about your former sins.
Flee from sin as you would from the presence of a snake,
For if you approach it, it will bite you;
Its teeth are like lion’s teeth, destroying the souls of men.
All lawlessness is like a two-edged sword,
For there is no healing from its wound.

Personal Challenge

As a follower of Christ, we acknowledge wrongdoing as sin. It is missing the mark of what God would want of us. Everyone, whether they acknowledge God or not, knows that the is a difference between right and wrong. We all have a moral compass that is coded within our very being. This is what we as followers of Christ call “created in the image of God”. This passage in Sirach reminds us that if we have sinned, or missed the mark, then we should seek to rectify the situation and pray for forgiveness. We are to follow that by fleeing from additional sin which will engulf us and harm us. We believe that by the grace of God our sins are forgiven, and we are redeemed by god’s love. Glory be to God!

1 Timothy 4:10

For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

Personal Challenge

What end are we laboring and suffering reproach for? It is the process of living our lives to be an image of Jesus Christ that we labor for. As followers of Christ, we are striving to be like him and do that which He would do. What are these things that Jesus would do? Love our God! Love our neighbor! Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take care of the widow and the orphan, and take in the foreigner, the stranger, the migrant amongst us. Contrary to many proclamations of modern people calling themselves Christians, we cannot abandon these expected actions as Christ followers and still call ourselves Christians. And why do we choose to follow Christ this way? Because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all mankind. Glory be to God!

Sirach 20:5-7

There is a man who is silent but is found to be wise,
And there is a man who is hateful because he talks too much.
There is a man who is silent because he has no answer,
And there is a man who is silent because he knows when to speak.
A wise man will keep silent until it is the right time to speak,
But an arrogant and undiscerning man will speak out of turn.

Personal Challenge

So many of the wisdom teachings of Sirach are so profound and apply even today. As one remains silent and carefully assess that which goes on around them, they will be perceived and recognized as wise. When we choose to talk (post) too much, then we may be perceived as hateful. There is great wisdom in remaining silent when we really do not have a valid answer. There is also great wisdom in knowing when the right time is to speak. Even if we do have a valid answer speaking out of turn will only reveal our arrogance and lack of discernment. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 Timothy 4:7-8

But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

Personal Challenge

We live in a day where physical exercise has been elevated almost to the level of a religion. We are also seeing a rise in so called intellectual exercise. With good physical exercise we can maintain our health, but we must always be careful to not put it before all the other aspects of life that make us well rounded. The intellectual exercise is where we are beginning to see major issues. With the advent of the internet there are a plethora of information sources at our fingertips. Unfortunately, a vast amount of this information is bad information. We must be diligent to separate the wheat from the chaff. If our desire is to be godly, righteous, loving, and caring people then we must be diligent to exercise our intellect with only truthful and quality information. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!