SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2025 8:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “A Strong Example As Spiritual
Mentor”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy
3:10-13
Message of the verses: “10 Now you followed
my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 11
persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at
Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all
the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad
to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
In
the first verses of this 3rd chapter of 2 Timothy the theme false
teachers, Timothy had observed closely the power of the truth. Parakoloutheo
(followed) literally means to accompany and was used metaphorically of
conforming to something as a matter of conviction. MacArthur writes “In ancient Greece,
philosophers used the word to describe the close relationship between a teacher
and his disciple, or student. It meant ‘to
study with at close quarters’ or ‘to take as an example to follow.’ William Barclay says of this term,
It means to follow a person physically; to stick by him through
thick and thin, to be by his side in fair weather and in foul. It means to
follow a person mentally, to attend diligently to his teaching, and fully to
understand the meaning and the significance of what he says. It means to follow a person spiritually, not
only to understand what he says, but also to carry on his ideas, and to be the
kind of person that he wishes us to be. (The
Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon [Philadelphia: Westminster 1957],
224)
Now
I want to move back to the first paragraph that goes along with this section
and I will quote it from MacArthur’s commentary. “Often more than we realize, we are
influenced by t hose we have lived with, worked, with, and served with. Sometimes the influence is for good,
sometimes for bad. Sometimes it is
conscious and direct and sometimes unconscious and indirect. For that reason it is of inestimable importance
that, insofar as we are able to determine it for ourselves, we should take
great care in choosing those we associate with, especially if they are in positions
to influence us spiritually.” I suppose that
I have never thought of this in the way that MacArthur explains it in his
commentary, but I can say that from the day that I became a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and trusted Him for my salvation, that I have mostly
associated with believers with the exception of one friend that I was very
close with and still stay in contact and have prayed for him over 50
years. Now it seems that since he will
be turning 80 next month and that he has had some illnesses which put him in
the hospital for 8 days, that perhaps at this time in his life that the Lord
will uses these things to open his heart to at least listen to me about the
salvation that the Lord gave to me by grace through faith. It would mean a lot to me to see my friend
come to Christ, and I know that it would mean a lot to him too, it is just that
he does not understand it yet. The same
goes for his wife too.
Spiritual
Meaning for My Life today: I realize that what we are talking about is
the relationship that Paul had with Timothy, as these verses make it clear. I am to also follow those who are spiritually
more mature than I am, and desire to do so.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord to provide the
right person or persons to deal with any remaining cancer that my wife has, so
that it all could be removed from her body in a way that would please the Lord
and be the best for her.
5/9/2025 9:18 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment