Tag Archives: 1 Timothy 6

The blessed ordinariness…

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‘The Elixir’

Teach me, my God and King, in all things thee to see,
And what I do in any thing, to do it as for thee:

Not rudely, as a beast, to runne into an action;
But still to make thee prepossest, and give it his perfection.

A man that looks on glasse, on it may stay his eye;
Or if he pleaseth, through it passe, and then the heav’n espie.

All may of thee partake: nothing can be so mean,
Which with his tincture (for thy sake) will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause makes drudgerie divine:
Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, makes that and th’ action fine.

This is the famous stone that turneth all to gold:
For that which God doth touch and own cannot for lesse be told.

(George Herbert, 1593-1633)

My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and for evermore.

(Ps 131)

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

(1 Tim 6.6-8)

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

(Col 3.23&24)

I am in a season of uncertainty and shadows, besieged by questions and easily distressed by the normal challenges and little problems which we each face daily. I am drawn to the small daily responsibilities which are my privilege, and reminded that in everything we are and do, we are offering ourselves in worship to the Lord. The poem with which I began today is not particularly easy to read, the language is antique, but I would encourage you to take a little time to ponder its meaning. It has always brought me great comfort in seasons like this – when all I seem able to cope with are the small things of life.

My attitude to my tasks – whether it be washing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, weeding and tidying the garden, taking time to listen to friends and share their lives for a time, sending birthday cards and connecting with family – speaks of my attitude to the opportunity of my life. It is God’s daily gift to me, a fresh opportunity to serve Him and to love Him, seeing and giving thanks for the abundance of good things which I receive and can share with others. It is a privilege to have a house to keep, food to cook, clothes to wash and friends to meet. A garden is a wonderful opportunity to appreciate and care for creation, seeing in my small patch a little portion of the marvellous creativity of the Maker of all things.

Cultivating faithfulness to my Lord in the small ordinary things is good for me, helping me to remember that I depend on Him for everything, and that every day brings me opportunities to enjoy His goodness, His gifts, and His presence. I see the beauty in the mugs and plates we use each day – the colours delight my eyes. I feel the warmth of the clothes which cover me, and am grateful for the skill of the designers and makers who bring colour and texture into each day. I taste the goodness of our food, and the fresh air delights my senses, like the light on my face and the wind in my hair. All these things can be prompts to thankfulness and worship of my God, to renewed trust in His provision for me and faith that He will not fail me tomorrow..

Heavenly Father, I thank and praise you for the daily opportunities of my life; opportunities to taste and see your goodness in creation, to receive your love for me through Jesus, and to share that love and all you give me, with others.

Help me to see you each day, to discern your voice and to obey it. Help me to cherish every opportunity to work for you, in whatever form that may come to me, offering up the work in praise and thanksgiving as I serve my Lord in loving response to his abundant love for me.

Thank you that even in the small ordinariness of life, I can know you, serve you, and glorify you, Amen

For my children..

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But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that…the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

(1Timothy 6.6-12)

Nearly twenty two years ago, I was safely – and belatedly – delivered of a son, a precious gift and source of great joy and contentment, as well as not a little grief and anxiety over the years of his growing! Four years ago, he left home, first for a gap year, and then to university. There he thrives, and we have had the pleasure of watching him relish every opportunity to learn; every friendship which has come his way; and above all, of seeing him grow in faith, seeking to reach his community with the gospel. He is a man made by and for God, and he knows his maker – a blessing which cannot be quantified, and one which every christian parent craves for their children but cannot guarantee.

I say these things not to boast – it is none of my doing, and even as I give thanks for the blessings he has received, I yearn over the children of christian friends who as yet are choosing to walk through life without putting their faith in Christ, sitting lightly to the question of their salvation. So why talk about him at all? Because this  morning, after a week of holiday with friends here, he left me again…

Does it never get easier, this parting from the one who once was utterly dependent on me? Does the raw place where my heart was ripped from his never really heal over? I have no fear for him, and yet how sore it is when he leaves, returning to the larger life he now enjoys with friends who are so dear – in which I barely play a part – and all of life ahead of him.

The bible regularly uses the imagery of a father – or mother – to describe God’s yearning over his children, and I believe that this longing love is something that human beings experience in smaller degree. In our parenting; our nurturing of new life and raising for independent living, we experience a little of the passion with which God loves us, his beloved children, driving him to seek after and bring us to himself again. The very pain which is part of letting our children go, is a window into the heart of a tender God. How are we to use it?

I can resent the ways that God has chosen to ordain my life, separating me from my children and leading them away from me..or I can rejoice that for a little time, I was privileged to be in their lives, loving and caring for them on his behalf. They were his before they were ever mine, and if I remember that, then I can take comfort even as I watch them go – God’s love for them is so much greater than I can ever imagine, and they can be in no better place than the centre of his will for them.

I can follow the example of Paul, who though not the human father of Timothy, yet wrote tenderly to that young man, calling him a dear son, and addressing many earnest and loving words of advice to him. Paul does not caution Timothy to look out for his own interests, but challenges him to the highest calling – a life devoted to God, in which those qualities of godliness, love, endurance, faith, gentleness and righteousness are always growing stronger.

Who knows what this will look like in real life? A calling to full-time christian service; to overseas mission or ministry in this country? A life lived in an increasingly secular and hostile society, bearing faithful witness to the rebuke and challenge as well as the offer of the gospel? A life of single chastity, or marriage and parenthood? A life blessed with good health, or plagued by illness?

I cannot tell, and I thank God that I do not know. But I can and do pray for my children – and for their friends, the precious young lives which come into contact with mine – that their faith will be in Christ alone; that their will to obey might be fixed; and that they might live to glorify and serve the God who made them for such a time as this.