YEAR 1, WEEK 34, Day 3, Wednesday, 21 August 2024

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Wednesday, 21 August 2024:

2 Timothy 4:2 — Reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience.

In a large part, Christians have lost the essential skill of rebuking with patience and gentleness. Some think we shouldn’t be rebuking at all. Others rebuke in harsh, unloving ways. If you truly love others, you must be willing to tell them the truth. If you are truly loving, you will tell the truth in a loving way, for the other person’s benefit rather than yours.

Be careful not to tell the truth merely to get what you want or to defend your own position. Insisting on your own way is ultimately selfish and unloving, and it also makes you the focus rather than Jesus – ambassadors never represent themselves.

• 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 — Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
• Colossians 3:12-17 — Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
• Galatians 6:1 — Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
• Ephesians 4:15 — Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ….
• Zechariah 8:16 — These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace.
• Ephesians 4:1-3 — I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
• Ephesians 4:25-32 — Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
• 2 Corinthians 13:9, 11 — For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for…. Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

If you can’t speak truth unselfishly and unemotionally, hoping merely for the best for the other party, it is usually best to just keep your mouth shut and pray for them. Never let pride get in the way of your mission of reconciliation – “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

2 Timothy 4:3-5 — For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Modern religious teachings are increasingly accommodating passions rather than challenging them. Many popular churches today are growing both in size and in disobedience. The waters of God’s word are being muddied and replaced with filthy cisterns created by men (see Jeremiah 2:13; Ezekiel 34:18-9; and Proverbs 25:26). Remain in God’s word and compare what you are reading with what you are seeing in the church. The truth is self-evident. Those who continue to stand for the truth will suffer but must continue to testify to the truth.

• Proverbs 25:26 — Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
• Ezekiel 34:18 — Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?
• Ezekiel 34:19 — And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
• Jeremiah 2:13 — For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

2 Timothy 4:7 – I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

From Henry T. Blackaby – “There is much satisfaction in finishing something you have begun! The success of a race is determined not only by how well you begin but also by how well you end. Many athletes can begin a race impressively, but if they stumble or are injured or lack the stamina to finish, their good start is useless. Paul rejoiced that he had not only begun the race but he had also finished it. His prize was a robust faith in God and a life filled with God’s powerful presence. The Christian life is not easy. Some mistakenly assume that once they become children of God, their struggles are over. Many Christians begin their walk with Christ enthusiastically, but as the pressures mount, they lose heart and abandon their pilgrimage. Paul described His Christian life as a battle. There were times when he struggled, and only through perseverance could he continue. It may surprise us to know that the great apostle had to struggle at times to be faithful to God. Paul faced persecution, misunderstanding, betrayal, and death threats. His Christian life was anything but easy, yet he persevered. Your faith in God is not proven by beginning the race but by enduring to the finish. Publicly announcing your commitment to Christ in your church does not compare with a lifetime of devotion to His cause. Use Paul as your model. Live your life in such a way that you can one day conclude, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith!”

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 21 August 2024: Today, “reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience.” Whatever the issue, use it to point to Christ.