Good morning. Now a verse
that has several different possibilities of translation. For the love of money
is (a/the) root of (all/all sorts of) evil. Whichever way you translate it, the
love of money is a big bad thing. Some by longing for it have wandered away
from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pang. For most people it's
not love of the money, but the love of what money can bring. Where is their
treasure? For these people it is here on earth - the money. And because of that
they wander away from the faith. You cannot seek both. Remember: you will love
the one and hate the other, or you will hold to the one and despise the other.
Notice also that they pierce themselves. It is a type of spiritual
"suicide". Paul tells Timothy "but flee from these things, you
man of God". We can't just look the other way. As long as they are in
eyesight, they will be in "heart sight". God does not just tell us to
run away from something, He also tells us to run towards something. Pursue
righteousness, godliness (we just talked about this), faith, love, perseverance
and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Some fights are bad and some
fights are good. This one is good. Take hold of the eternal life to which you
were called. Some Christians never do take hold of it. It is eternal, and it
begins now. Father thank You that the reader pursues those good things of God
(righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness). He/she
fights the good fight of faith.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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