1 Timothy 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A FRIEND IS WAITING

Hebrews 10:12 says, “After he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, [he] sat down at the right hand of God.” Of course Jesus sat down. All that needed to be done had been done. Why don’t you receive this great miracle of mercy? Let the grace of God flow over you like a cleansing cascade, flushing out all dregs of guilt and shame. Friend, nothing separates you from God. Your conscience may accuse you, but God accepts you. Others may dredge up your past, but God doesn’t. As far as he is concerned, the work is once-and-for-all-time finished.

Keep running the race. And, as you run, be assured a friend is waiting for you at the finish line.  When you cross it, he’ll catch you in his arms. Don’t be surprised if he says again what he said then: “It is finished.” Remember, friend, you are never alone.

1 Timothy 3

Leadership in the Church

 If anyone wants to provide leadership in the church, good! But there are preconditions: A leader must be well-thought-of, committed to his wife, cool and collected, accessible, and hospitable. He must know what he’s talking about, not be overfond of wine, not pushy but gentle, not thin-skinned, not money-hungry. He must handle his own affairs well, attentive to his own children and having their respect. For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a new believer, lest the position go to his head and the Devil trip him up. Outsiders must think well of him, or else the Devil will figure out a way to lure him into his trap.

8-13 The same goes for those who want to be servants in the church: serious, not deceitful, not too free with the bottle, not in it for what they can get out of it. They must be reverent before the mystery of the faith, not using their position to try to run things. Let them prove themselves first. If they show they can do it, take them on. No exceptions are to be made for women—same qualifications: serious, dependable, not sharp-tongued, not overfond of wine. Servants in the church are to be committed to their spouses, attentive to their own children, and diligent in looking after their own affairs. Those who do this servant work will come to be highly respected, a real credit to this Jesus-faith.

14-16 I hope to visit you soon, but just in case I’m delayed, I’m writing this letter so you’ll know how things ought to go in God’s household, this God-alive church, bastion of truth. This Christian life is a great mystery, far exceeding our understanding, but some things are clear enough:

He appeared in a human body,
    was proved right by the invisible Spirit,
        was seen by angels.
He was proclaimed among all kinds of peoples,
    believed in all over the world,
        taken up into heavenly glory.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, November 16, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Galatians 5:13–26

Life by the Spirit
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Footnotes
Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.
Galatians 5:14 Lev. 19:18
Galatians 5:17 Or you do not do what

Insight
We’re all born with a sinful nature inherited from Adam (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12, 14), but those who place their trust in Jesus for salvation are “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8) and receive a new nature (1:13; Titus 3:5). This new “divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) is “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). In Galatians 5, Paul warns that our flesh (sinful habits) continues to oppose the indwelling Spirit (v. 17). To “put to death” our earthly nature (Colossians 3:5), we must walk and live by the Spirit, keeping in step with Him as He leads and directs us (Galatians 5:16, 18, 25).

Borrowed Shoes
Serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13

In the chaos of fleeing his home during the California wildfires of 2018, Gabe, a high school senior, missed the state-qualifying cross-country race for which he’d been training. Missing this meet meant he wouldn’t have the chance to compete at the state meet—the culminating event of his four-year running career. In light of the circumstances, the state athletics board gave Gabe another chance: he’d have to run a qualifying time by himself, on a rival high school’s track, in “street shoes” because his running shoes were in the charred rubble of his home. When he showed up to “race,” Gabe was surprised by his competitors who’d come to supply him with proper shoes and to run alongside him to ensure he kept the pace necessary to be entered in the state meet.

Gabe’s opponents had no obligation to help him. They could have given into their natural desires to look out for themselves (Galatians 5:13); doing so might have improved their own odds of winning. But Paul urges us to display the fruit of the Spirit in our lives—to “serve one another humbly in love” and to demonstrate “kindness” and “goodness” (vv. 13, 22). When we lean on the Spirit to help us not act on our natural instincts, we’re better able to love those around us. By:  Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray
How are you showing the “fruit of the Spirit” in the way you treat others? How can you better love your “neighbor”?

Dear God, my natural desire is to look out for myself. Help me to serve others out of love for You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 16, 2020
Still Human!

…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31

In the Scriptures, the great miracle of the incarnation slips into the ordinary life of a child; the great miracle of the transfiguration fades into the demon-possessed valley below; the glory of the resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.

We have a tendency to look for wonder in our experience, and we mistake heroic actions for real heroes. It’s one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us. If we are not looking for halos, we at least want something that will make people say, “What a wonderful man of prayer he is!” or, “What a great woman of devotion she is!” If you are properly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the lofty height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time.

We want to be able to say, “Oh, I have had a wonderful call from God!” But to do even the most humbling tasks to the glory of God takes the Almighty God Incarnate working in us. To be utterly unnoticeable requires God’s Spirit in us making us absolutely humanly His. The true test of a saint’s life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life. We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life “hidden with Christ in God” in our everyday human conditions (Colossians 3:3). Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the ideal life of God should be exhibited.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R

Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 3-4; Hebrews 11:20-40

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 16, 2020
Doing it With Your Daddy - #8831

A basketful of eggs and a four-year-old girl. Got any ideas how this might turn out? The little girl was my wife. This little scene played out on the basement stairs of the church her family attended. Her Dad said, "Honey, you should hold Daddy's hand." He wasn't too sure about either his daughter or the eggs she was carrying. As she grabbed onto the stair railing with one hand and gripped the handle of the basket with the other hand, she said, "I'm okay, Daddy." (These are first-borns. Yeah, I know about this.) In an instant, she was tumbling down the steps, head over heels. She had some minor "boo-boos." The eggs - prematurely scrambled.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Doing it With Your Daddy."

We smile at a little child's stubborn self-sufficiency, and we miss how much like us that really is. At least from the vantage point of our Heavenly Father. That's why our Father gives us clear instructions on the way to make it and the way to mess it up; the way to get safely where we need to go and the way to break all the eggs.

It's summed up in two of the most quoted verses in the Bible from Proverbs 3:5-6. It could be your life verse and it still might not be the way you live! Our word for today from the Word of God: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Trust in Him and not in yourself. Lean on what He shows you and not on what you can figure out by yourself. It could be that you're running full-steam right now, chasing your goal, managing your situation, fixing your problem. But the still, small voice of your Heavenly Father is whispering in your heart, "My child, you should hold My hand."

But you're Mr. or Miss Self-Sufficient, right? You're smart, you're skilled, you're experienced, you're strong, and from God's perspective, you're a control freak. Sure, you want Jesus with you, but you don't really want Him running things. "I can do this, Daddy. I can fix this. I can handle this." Followed soon by the crash, the breakage, and the "boo-boos."

Sure, you're officially, theologically trusting God, but in reality, are you trusting what you can do? In reality, while Jesus is your "Chairman" on the letterhead, in the stuff that really matters, are you really in charge and is Jesus' role really honorary? Let's put it this way: you're driving down the road and you see this hitchhiker by the side of the road. You go against your usual instincts and you pull over to pick him up. As you open the passenger door, you're stunned to see Jesus Himself standing there. You say, "Jesus, this is such an honor. Would you please get in and ride with me?" And He'll say, "No." You'll probably ask, "Why not?" That's when Jesus will say, "Because I don't ride. I drive. You let me know when you're ready for Me to drive."

See, you were never meant to drive. You were never meant to carry all this. That's why there are so many stumbles, so many falls, and so many breaks. Right now your Lord, who won the right to run your life when He gave His life for you on the cross, your Lord is saying it one more time, "Take My hand. Lean on Me. Let Me lead." Don't tell Him, "No, I'm okay, Daddy. I can do it myself." That's only going to lead to a fall.

Don't make another step without grabbing your Father's hand and letting Him lead.