Tuesday 15 Jan 2013

Tuesday Reading: 1 Timothy 3:1-7

Key Verse: 1 Timothy 3:2
2  A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

Devotion:
Of course from the other side of the fence we can see that if someone wanted to lead a church then they should have certain qualifications and qualities about them. The first and foremost is that they should be called to that duty by God; and it can be argued that that is every Christians duty. But then there is more to it than just thinking that you are called to be a preacher!

Christ chose each of the disciples because He knew them from the inside and He knew that each of them would be blameless (with the exception of Judas Iscariot whom He knew would betray Him, but for His glory) and would carry out their duty solemnly. God wants a man who is willing to uphold the gospel, preach the truth and teach everyone that same truth. God does not want a famous orator or a famous actor just to bring in the crowds; God wants the truth told. We may not want to hear that truth sometimes because we have done things wrong, but it is the telling of that truth that God is after.

Each of us needs to aim toward this calling in some way because we all become examples of Christians when we become Christians. The more responsibility that we take on the more that we should take our own Christian walk seriously. The pastor of a church needs to make sure that they remain a most excellent example, and for that matter his spouse and children should be doing the same. Part of that remit of that position is that they maintain their own household as a living example of how they will maintain the church flock.

That, unfortunately, is where many of us fall down because we fall short of that example. Should that exclude us from the ministry? No. God is a forgiving God, but He wants church leaders to be chosen well so that they can remain blameless in society otherwise they will bring the church into disrepute and not just themselves. We have to be the ones who take on God’s Word and live by it so that we can be the best example we can be for others. If we know we fall short in any cause then we should be working to fix that before we say we are chosen of God – let us not bring God’s Word into disrepute just because we think otherwise.

Points to Ponder:
Do you uphold God’s Word?

Do others see that you uphold God’s Word?