Living in the Spirit

September 23, 2022

Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 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, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. –1 Timothy 6:11-19

do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future,

What we do today builds the foundation for our future, for everyone’s futures. When I was a child, I remember seeing tons of trash along the highway driving from our farm the fifteen miles to the town of Stillwater. People just threw napkins and sacks out the windows of their cars. The trash landed in the ditches and stuck to the fences. I guess someone got tired of seeing it. The Governor introduced a campaign called Don’t Lay That Trash on Oklahoma! Cute ads ran on television. Groups of people went out and speared trash into bags to remove what was already strewn about. The campaign worked and made a major difference in showing we cared about our world. We laid a solid foundation that remains intact today.

In the scripture above, Timothy was instructed to lay the foundations in following Christ that must be instilled into our faith culture to build the beloved community. The foundation Jesus set modeled for us in his life, the way of living by loving God and loving one another. We are called to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future.

Prayer: Lord, help us build the foundation to support the beloved community. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.