I was speaking at a Men's Retreat just outside of Hanoi this weekend. Between preparing for those four messages and then sharing them, coupled with the typical interrupted sleep that comes with jet lag, I have just missed several days of blogging. But I am back.
I was speaking to the men this weekend on the theme of becoming a Man of God. In I Timothy 6: 11 and 12, there are four action verb challenges given to Timothy as a man of God - and to all of us Christian women and men. The first is the challenge to "flee" or "run away from all this". In the preceding verses, Paul has talked about the spiritual danger that comes with the pursuit of money, and that the "love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." It is from these evils that Paul warns Timothy and us to run.
When we have a strong desire for more money and the things it can buy or the security it seems to bring, we can easily fall to the temptations that arise from that desire. How tempting to be dishonest when selling an item that is damaged, because we know if we were honest we could not sell it, or at least not get the best price. And so our desire causes us to lie.
Or how common is the temptation to cheat on a tax form; or on our purchases declaration when returning to our country from a vacation. Why? Because our greed, the love of money causes us to compromise our Christian integrity - leads us into sin.
So we are counselled, run from "all this". How do I run from "the love of money" and all the temptation that accompanies it? One way is to give generously. If you regularly give away money to those who need it, you will dampen your love of money and what it can buy. Generosity is a great antidote to greed.
We can run away from "all this" by cutting way back on our trips to shopping centres that tempt and tantalize us with things we would never want to buy had we not seen them. (Or for some of us it may be by refusing to watch a shopping channel.) We can run away by consciously limiting our spending, by destroying most if not all of our credit cards; by refusing to live at the outer limits of what we can afford.
We need to know ourselves and honestly identify how much the love of money and what it can buy may be keeping us from growing in godliness.
There are three other warnings to "run away" in the NT. Maybe we can look briefly at those in tomorrow's blog. Informed by Scripture, and with prayerful self examination, we can become wise in knowing "when to run."
I was speaking to the men this weekend on the theme of becoming a Man of God. In I Timothy 6: 11 and 12, there are four action verb challenges given to Timothy as a man of God - and to all of us Christian women and men. The first is the challenge to "flee" or "run away from all this". In the preceding verses, Paul has talked about the spiritual danger that comes with the pursuit of money, and that the "love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." It is from these evils that Paul warns Timothy and us to run.
When we have a strong desire for more money and the things it can buy or the security it seems to bring, we can easily fall to the temptations that arise from that desire. How tempting to be dishonest when selling an item that is damaged, because we know if we were honest we could not sell it, or at least not get the best price. And so our desire causes us to lie.
Or how common is the temptation to cheat on a tax form; or on our purchases declaration when returning to our country from a vacation. Why? Because our greed, the love of money causes us to compromise our Christian integrity - leads us into sin.
So we are counselled, run from "all this". How do I run from "the love of money" and all the temptation that accompanies it? One way is to give generously. If you regularly give away money to those who need it, you will dampen your love of money and what it can buy. Generosity is a great antidote to greed.
We can run away from "all this" by cutting way back on our trips to shopping centres that tempt and tantalize us with things we would never want to buy had we not seen them. (Or for some of us it may be by refusing to watch a shopping channel.) We can run away by consciously limiting our spending, by destroying most if not all of our credit cards; by refusing to live at the outer limits of what we can afford.
We need to know ourselves and honestly identify how much the love of money and what it can buy may be keeping us from growing in godliness.
There are three other warnings to "run away" in the NT. Maybe we can look briefly at those in tomorrow's blog. Informed by Scripture, and with prayerful self examination, we can become wise in knowing "when to run."
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