Flee Evil Desires

It is incredible how powerful the desires of the flesh are. Much like the things we can become addicted to, when we fall in a certain area of sin, we are more prone to fall again in that same area than someone who has never tasted that particular sin. Because once our flesh has tasted sin, it can be ever more enticing and addicting. But the more we flee those evil desires, the easier it should get over time to resist it. Paul tells Timothy in second Timothy 2:22: 

“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.”

God wants our heart to be pure. He wants us to pursue righteousness. I’ve even heard it said that “God does not merely call us to pursue righteousness, but to prefer it.” For most of us, to prefer righteousness, faith, love and peace, like it says in this verse, requires a change of heart. It requires a change in mindset, and it requires the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as the truth sets us free; the truth that righteousness is better than sin. Paul tells Timothy to flee evil desires and to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. And as an extension, I believe that God is telling us to do that as well.

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Paul alludes to the idea that those who call on the Lord with a pure heart are also the ones who pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. These are attributes that every believer wants to reflect. Step one is to flee the evil desires of our youth, as Paul puts it. To prefer righteousness means that we want to be righteous over indulging in sin; that we enjoy being right before God over satisfying our fleshly desires. Let us heed Paul’s instruction. Let us 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.

Ready For Work

Every believer will agree that God made all of us. And most would agree that God made us for a purpose. There is a difference between being made for noble purposes as opposed to ignoble purposes. We may not be able to choose if we’re made of “gold or silver”, or if we’re made of “wood or clay”, but in a way, we can choose whether we’re used for noble purposes because it says in second Timothy chapter 2 verses 20 and 21:

“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 for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”

What I get from this is that it is within our power to be used for noble purposes by the Master. It says that if a man cleanses himself, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. I don’t know about you, but I would love to be used for noble purposes, made holy, useful to God and prepared to do any good work. So, I encourage you to be cleansed. You can’t do this on your own. Only with the Holy Spirit can this happen. To be cleansed is an act of repentance, submission, obedience, and brokenness before the Lord. It is allowing the Spirit to fashion us into the likeness of God’s son. And we know how greatly he was used for noble purposes.

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Second Timothy says, if a man cleanses himself, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. We have to be cleansed from the ignoble to be used for noble purposes. And the Bible teaches us that this is obtainable. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help us. So, I encourage you, if you haven’t already, get right before the Lord with the help of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you. One motivation is to be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

Word of God

I believe there are three major things that we can proactively do to cultivate our relationship with God. These are things that we should do often, and they are things that if we do them the way God wants us to do them, no one but us and God will even know they are occurring. The things I’m referring to are prayer, Bible reading and fasting. Each one is important, and I would argue that most Christians don’t practice them enough. Let’s take Bible reading as an example. How can we learn about the character of God, his commands, Jesus’ life, and how we are to live without becoming intimately aware of what the Bible says? 2 Timothy 3:16-17 describes the Bible like this:

“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 

And Hebrews 4:12 says this about the Bible:

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

I encourage you, if you’re not reading the Bible on a regular basis, to begin doing so. Carve out time each day to read a couple of chapters. Don’t like to read? Invest in the spoken Bible as an app on your smartphone or as a CD collection. Is the Bible a little over your head? Invest in a study Bible, or get a devotional series that will walk you through principles of the Bible. Any way you engage the Bible, the Lord can use that time to teach, rebuke, correct and train you, as it says in Second Timothy. It is also the best way we can grow in our faith because the Bible teaches us that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. In all honesty, I can think of no better way to get to know God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit apart from reading the word of God.

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I can’t express how important it is for every believer to become familiar with what the Bible says directly from the Bible itself. If we do, not only can we learn how to live, but we can teach others to do the same. The Bible is the purest written directive to us from the God of all creation. Jesus used the words of the Bible to battle Satan in the desert, and if we know what the Bible says, we can as well because as Hebrews reminds us; the word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword. I’ve read the Bible several times, and even still, each time I read it, God reveals something new to me. The more I read it, the deeper I understand him. And I’m sure any believer reading the word can testify to the same. If you’re new to the Bible, I would encourage you to begin with the New Testament. And if you already know your Bible pretty well, I would challenge you to become a scholar.

Don't Associate

If you’re familiar with the life of Jesus, you’ll know that he spent a considerable amount of time with unbelievers. After all, he said that “it is the sick that need a doctor, not those who think they are already good enough”. Today, we are called to follow his example, but there will come a time when we will want to separate ourselves from the godless. Second Timothy warns us about this when speaking about the last days. It says in chapter 3 verses 1-5: 

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

Certainly these people exist today, but I believe these kinds of people will be more prevalent as we come closer and closer to the Lord’s return. In those last days, Timothy warns us to have nothing to do with them. The Bible also tells us to “work while it is day”. In other words, we are to make every effort to win others to Christ now before the darkness of the end times are upon us. There will come a day when we are not to have anything to do with the godless, but I don’t believe that time is now. Now, we are to love them and win them to Christ with the help and power of the Holy Spirit. However, in doing this, I believe we must also exercise discernment. Proverbs warns us not to “throw our pearls to the swine”. In other words, we shouldn’t strive to share the gospel with those who are hostile to it. If you do, you will likely end up being trampled. So I encourage you to be discerning and to work while it is day, because when the last days are upon us it will be too late.

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Timothy reminds us that there will be terrible times in the last days where people will behave so badly that we are warned to not have anything to do with them. But until that day comes, I encourage you to share the gospel with love, discernment and with the aid and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Godless Chatter

I knew of someone who struggled with believing in the bible because it didn’t match his own set of beliefs that he’d formed through his time living life. He’d formed his own code of what is right and wrong. Some of what he said seemed to agree with the principles of the bible and others did not. Even though he claimed to be a believer, it seemed as though he just agreed with whatever portions of the bible matched his personal code and disregarded the rest. As bad as this type of thinking could be for his own spiritual growth, think about what it would do if he tried to teach it to others. It would be nothing more than godless chatter. Second Timothy chapter 2, verses 16 through 18 says:

"Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some."

It is dangerous to choose to believe only what we want to agree with when it comes to our devotion to the bible. The entire bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, so if we dismiss what we don’t want to agree with, or even worse – teach others to believe our own version of what we think the bible should be, we are wandering away from the truth and destroying the faith of some. So I encourage you, just as Timothy does, to avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.

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Timothy warns us to avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. The type of chatter that he is referring to is when we choose our own so called “wisdom” over biblical truth. When we begin to think that we know better than God, and we substitute what he deems as holy and right for what we consider holy and right, we are deceiving ourselves and worse – we deceive others if they choose to listen to us. So please, take the bible as total and pure truth. It is the Holy Scriptures inspired by the Holy Spirit. Even the cover of my copy says “Holy Bible” as to make sure I’m never confused.