05-23-12 "Reverent Wonder" 1 Timothy 4:6-10

The passage I read was 1 Timothy 4:6-10

You can find that passage here:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%204:6-10&version=NIV

The verse that most stood out to me:

⁸ 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.

As I reflect:

The passage starts out talking about the previous few verses where Paul tells Timothy that there are deceiving spirits which teach things that aren’t true.  You and I often call those influenced by these spirits “false prophets”.  Paul says that if we point these out to the brothers and sisters we will be good ministers of Christ Jesus.  I gotta tell you I have a bit of personal experience on both sides of this situation. 

I have been the younger more immature Christian that is being told these things and I have also told other brothers and sisters about them.  Some of the earlier things I was told by mentors include being warned that Joel Osteen was a false prophet, Christmas is a pagan tradition (even as celebrated surrounding the birth of Jesus), Easter is pagan, Joyce Meyers is a false prophet, and several other huge eye opening truths in life.  Now, when I was first told these things, admittedly I had a great deal of doubt even though the info came from trusted mentors.  I still felt in the back of my mind that they were simply being judgmental or legalistic or had heard incorrect information from a conspiracy theorist in the theology phase of their life.  In fact I would sometimes thank them for the info but then go and do research to the contrary just to prove to myself that they were wrong and I could still celebrate whatever and listen to whomever I felt was right.  But, I was wrong.  In time I came to realize as my studies got deeper that I had been deceived by lying spirits.  My entire life was filled with seemingly little lies that were told to me from parents, books, teachers, strangers, advertisements, and the overall traditions of a nation and beyond that a culture that has existed since Satan’s first lie in the garden.  Because I spent a lifetime believing in certain traditions as holy, you can imagine I was defensive at first.  But despite my love of the traditions, my desire for truth was far greater and God revealed to me the lies I had fallen for.  After significant study and prayer (lasting several years on one particular topic), I found their warnings true. 

 I think back to those who told me the truth and today they are still trusted advisors and yet I still research a great deal of what they say (merely because we are all human and fallible).  But I didn’t realize then what a great task they took on when they told me those truths.  I since have heard of other brothers and sisters that have been lied to and believe in false prophets to be God’s servants.  I have come to those times in conversation when I must tell them the truth or be held accountable for saying nothing and allowing them to believe in a lie that could lead them astray.  

Let me tell you, not all “Christians” respond in the way I did when first told the truth.  It’s harder to share than you may think.  But we are told to nourish truth and be good ministers.  We are told to have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales.  We are told to train ourselves to be godly.  Doing this does require going through some uncomfortable self examination and many times we may find that what the world told us was real, was an illusion; what a “man of God” on stage said, was really deceit from a man that knoweth not Our Father; that our fun memories finding dyed eggs were really just idol worship of a false god.  Let us put these wives’ tales aside and be honest with ourselves and with each other.  Let us train ourselves to be godly and seek truth.  Let us labor and strive putting our hope in the living God and not in traditions of cultures that are foreign to the truth.