Calling
Out To The Lord With a Pure Heart
[2nd
Timothy chapter 2, verses 19-26]
When
we left off at verse 18 last week, the apostle Paul was warning his
protege', or more accurately his deacon Timothy, to be wary of those
who had wandered away from the truth and who refused to come back to
Christ. In modern times we call “churches” who “teach” this
kind of useless garbage cults. It's just that, back in Paul and
Timothy's time, the term 'cult' had not yet been invented as far as I
know. There is no other word for them, and if anyone reading this has
ever found themselves caught up in one of these cults masquerading as
churches as I once did a very long time ago, get away from there any
way you can. I succeeded and so can you. What happened in that case
was that I simply got up in the middle of the service and left. No
problem. Pray to the Lord for deliverance and He will most definitely
enable you to leave without worrying about what others may think.
“Come out of her, oh my people”, says the Lord about these
churches that are not of God but of men and women, “and be
separate from them”. Bearing that in mind, let's take up where
Paul left off in his letter to Timothy, beginning at verse 19.
“Nevertheless,
God's solid foundation stands firm sealed with this inscription, 'The
Lord knows those who are his' and, 'Everyone who confesses the name
of the Lord must turn away from wickedness'. In a large house there
are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay;
some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses
himself from the latter, he will be an instrument of noble purposes,
made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love
and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because
you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not
quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not
resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope
that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of
the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from
the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”
(2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 19-26, NIV)
God knows those who are his, sometimes without their
knowledge and who are blissfully unaware of His guiding presence in
their life. I did not give my heart up to Jesus Christ and recognize
him as my Savior and kinsman-redeemer until I was in my mid-thirties.
In spite of that fact, I am certain that the Lord knew from day 1
that I was born to be His. But then comes the flip side of this coin
– which is that all who sincerely walk with Jesus have left their
bad old ways behind them. That's exactly what the word 'repent'
means! People who are recovering addicts, for example (not to put
those in recovery in the spotlight), are in recovery as long as they
never touch that to which they are addicted, no matter what it is.
But if they relapse (which can be fairly common), they still get
another chance by starting over on counting their days, weeks and
months of sobriety. They never, ever give up. The salvation of Jesus
Christ works the same way. This could involve a bit of confession,
first with Christ, second with those they may have hurt, and
sometimes third with their therapists or therapy groups. In a worst
case scenario, this can sometimes even mean a short-term
hospitalization for the person's own protection. In this same manner,
we shed ourselves of all unrighteousness, immorality, and impure
hearts and minds so that we too say we are “clean”. “Work
out your own salvation”, Paul wrote in Philippians, “with
fear and trembling before the Lord”. That is perfectly
applicable right here, and it applies to all of us equally.
“...be
an instrument of noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and
prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth, and
pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who
call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
Let's not go through life acting just any old way, or doing just what
we please, usually at the expense of all others around us. That's not
Christ at all. Be a true believer in Jesus, just as I wrote above, by
living your faith instead of merely believing in it or belonging to
it. Acquire a strong faith in Christ, don't simply learn it. Anybody
can memorize a creed, but living one's faith as a lifestyle is
another matter altogether. Pursue love and peace! Don't wait for love
and peace to come to you, or you'll be waiting all your life. Take
the love and peace that you have received through your deep faith in
Christ and spread it all around like butter on a slice of bread.
Which, by the way, proves that we don't always need money to solve
problems and build a community. That's so 20th
century! Call on the Lord at all times with a pure heart. Don't
bother asking for forgiveness if you are holding a grudge or hiding
an ulterior motive. God sees right through that kind of Spiritual
junk, and that's why those kinds of prayers never get answered. It's
time to get a grip, everybody, this is the Son of God we're talking
about. This is very serious stuff, the knowledge of which is crucial
to all. Where you will spend eternity depends upon this alone.
“Don't
have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you
know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel;
instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
Those who oppose him he must gently instruct ...”.
Avoid argumentative people, Paul wrote to Timothy, because all they
do is go around spoiling for a fight. They are, to put them into a
single category, bullies. There is no such thing as a Christian
bully. They don't exist, and any bully professing Christianity while
throwing punches is not just a phony Christian (CINO – Christians
in name only), but a dangerous human being in need of some restraint.
Fortunately, we have people who take care of problems like that.
They're called police officers. Those who serve the Lord, on the
other hand, must be kind, gentle, thoughtful and compassionate. “Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you”,
Jesus said. But Paul saved the best for last in the closing verse
when he wrote, “gently instruct those who oppose you”. This is
the polar opposite of getting into an argument. If someone opposes
you, it is far wiser to convert a potential enemy into an ally than
it is to beat them into submission with fists, with mean and nasty
words, and other abusive behavior. It is inevitable that, sooner or
later, those who are abused and bullied strike back at their abusers,
sometimes with (God forbid) horrific results. But Paul wrote the
Philippian church that true peace is “the peace of Christ that
surpasses all human understanding”. Can we ever achieve this
highest level of peace? Yes, but we must be willing to work towards
that goal over our entire lifetimes. “Christianity”, a famous
author once wrote, “is a journey, not a destination”. That is
ever so true.
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