.png)
By: Lori Reeves
You may listen to this devotion in audio form via podcast here.
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
I love the book of 1st Timothy. As a respecter of rules, I appreciate the detailed instruction, directions, and encouragement Paul gives to young Timothy as he pastored in Ephesus. What an undertaking this must have been for Timothy. I cannot begin to imagine the burden of responsibility he carried.
As Paul maps out the instructions for Timothy, verse 8 has resonated with me since my sons were small. Being married to a former college athlete and having a son who also competed in athletics throughout college, I was consistent in sharing this scripture and talking it out with him. We talked through the fact that physical training – while it was fun or necessary for the station of life he was in; the more important focus needed to be on growing in his relationship with Christ and his eternal future.
But I wonder if physical training is a distraction from choosing to focus on an on-growing relationship with Christ - what else is? Regardless of our stage of life, is our work, hobbies, time spent on social media, or self-inflicted “busy-ness” things we allow to prevent us from growing deeper in our relationship with Jesus. And why do we allow this to happen? Are we afraid of what might be revealed to us or about us? Are we just content with status-quo because it’s easier than risking diving deeper into an area of our heart that we’d rather not wake up? This earth is not our home, and our time here is finite. Are we genuinely pursing an authentic, heart-focused relationship with our Savior? He longs for this with us.
Stepping back into “mom-mode” for a moment ~ As a mother of sons, I am often drawn to Luke 2:19 – But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Did she know what her baby boy was getting ready to face? As he slept in that make-shift bassinet, did Mary sense her little boy would suffer the pain he was going to have to endure? The rejection? I wonder if she held him more closely as a child because of this and if she wished she could hold him like a little baby again as she watched him dying on the cross for people she would never lay eyes on?
My prayer over you is that you choose to intentionally reject the distractions that are keeping you from a growing relationship with Christ. And that you choose a joyful, eternal future that will only come through Him.
This is trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:9)