11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
As maturing believers, we should flee from the love of money and the desire to be rich. Instead, we should pursue the things of God: righteous living, being more like Christ, loving more through a growing faith, perseverance in our Christian walk even in the face of trials and persecution, and gentleness in how we deal with others.
The Christian life is a spiritual battle and we will need to fight against our two opponents, the spiritual forces and our fleshly desires. How do we stay motivated? By holding on to eternal life and make it a reality now. All who believe have eternal life now (John 5:24) and we need to live that reality from today. Jesus is our model as He fought the fight of faith and laid hold of eternal life when He was persecuted and put on trial before Pontius Pilate. We should pursue all these things until Jesus returns so that we can be found blameless when Jesus judges and rewards us for what we have done in our lives (Col 1:21-23). When Jesus returns, He will be presented by God the Father whom Paul goes on to describe in awe and worship.
When you consider the trajectory of your life, is it one that can be described as the pursuit of riches, or the pursuit of godliness? Which one is going to pay off in this life? Which one is going to pay off for all eternity? (This is a trick question because only one is the answer to both questions.)
What do you need to do to develop and eternity mindset?