READ: 1 Timothy 1 (Focus vs. 12-20)
MEMORY VERSE
“Fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience.”
1 Timothy 1:18-19
BACKGROUND
As a boy, I loved reading stories about pirates. How those adventures spurred my imagination!
Now I live in an area where one of the most infamous of those pirates—Blackbeard (real name, Edward Teach)—had his headquarters. Shipwrecked in the waters off the coast here is Blackbeard’s ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge.
We can easily romanticize the wrecks and the high-sea adventures of history. The apostle Paul, however, wrote about a very different kind of shipwreck that provides us with a caution and an exhortation.
In his first letter to Timothy, Paul warned his son in the faith to “[hold] on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith” (1 Timothy 1:19).
What is this “shipwreck”? Two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, had in some devastating way departed from the true faith, and the apostle turned them over to Satan “to be taught not to blaspheme” (v. 20). Paul desired them to repent, but the consequences of their actions were dire.
Our faith isn’t static, nor can it exist in a vacuum. We must actively nurture and cultivate our relationship with God to grow strong and healthy in faith and good conscience. May we join with other believers, yield to God’s Spirit, and allow Him to work in us. We can avoid shipwreck.
Bill Crowder
INSIGHT
Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to work with the young and troubled church there. Although Timothy was to aid the church in its struggles against false teachers (1 Timothy 1:3-7), Paul instructs him that he also needed to grow in his own faith (vv. 18-20).
He was to “fight the battle well” (v. 18), most commonly referring to spiritual warfare (see Ephesians 6:10-18); “[hold] on to the faith” (1 Timothy 1:19), referring to trust in Jesus (see Titus 1:1-3); and maintain “a good conscience” (1 Timothy 1:19), keeping his actions commendable (see Titus 3:14-15).
The journey of discipleship is lifelong. Actively nurturing our relationship with God helps us grow strong in our faith and avoid spiritual shipwreck.
J.R. Hudberg
APPLICATION
How would you describe your relationship with Jesus? If you’ve drifted from Him, what’s the first move you can make back to Him?
PR’s (Pastor Richard) RE-EMPHASIS
“Our faith isn’t static, nor can it exist in a vacuum. We must actively nurture and cultivate our relationship with God to grow strong and healthy in faith and good conscience.”
PR’s TAKE
“Physical maturity is bound to time. Spiritual maturity is bound to obedience.” John Bevere
“Spiritual maturity is not reached by the passing of the years, but by obedience to the will of God.” Oswald Chambers
PRAYER
“Wise Father, may Your Spirit work in my heart to keep me close to You and growing in my faith.”
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“O JESUS GROW IN ME”
O Jesus, Saviour, grow in me,
And all things else recede:
To You my heart would nearer be,
From sin be daily freed.
Each day embrace my weakness, Lord,
With Your supporting might;
And let my death be lost in life,
My darkness in Your light.
Let faith in You and in Your strength
My every motive move;
May You alone be my delight,
My passion and my love.
Fill me with gladness from above,
Hold me by strength divine.
Lord, let the glow of Your great love
Through my whole being shine.
Show me your glory more and more,
Lord, holy, wise, and true!
Your living image I would be,
In joy and sorrow too.
Make this poor self grow less and less,
And be Yourself my aim;
And through Your grace, make me each day
More worthy of Your name.
