1 Timóteo 4

1 Timóteo 4

Henry - Verses 6-10. Outward acts of self-denial profit little. What will it avail us to mortify the body, if we do not mortify sin? No diligence in mere outward things could be of much use. The gain of godliness lies much in the promise; and the promises to godly people relate partly to the life that now is, but especially to the life which is to come: though we lose for Christ, we shall not lose by him. If Christ be thus the Saviour of all men, then much more will he be the Rewarder of those who seek and serve him; he will provide well for those whom he has made new creatures. My conscience must be well-informed From God's own sacred Word; For conscience may be much deformed When standards pure are spurned. --Fraser CONSCIENCE IS A TRUSTWORTHY COMPASS WHEN GOD'S WORD IS YOUR CHART. Gary Staats - 1 Timothy 4:6–16 Also in 1 Timothy 4, Paul defines what a good minister of Jesus Christ should look like. In chapter 4 he defines the type of ministry of a good minister of Jesus Christ. They should follow words of faith, good doctrine, and teaching that would not lead people astray (2 Tim. 4:6–9). They are to exercise themselves unto godliness knowing that bodily exercise has a little profit but godliness is profitable for all things (4:8). The pastor is to be toiling and working in a way that he is exercising his spiritual body as it were and he is to be an example of the believers in word, in love, in faith, and in purity (4:12). The godly pastor should have good speech and a proper life, and should be a person of love, vitality, and purity to the Lord. Paul further says to Timothy “until I come give attention to the reading (4:13).” The minister should be reading the Word on his own and in the congregation in a public way. The Pastor should not neglect the gift given to him, but needs to give attention to the reading of the Word publicly, to exhortation, to teaching, and be constantly at these things (4:13–15). They are to be constantly growing in their walk with the Lord, Paul says, so that their advancement as a minister might be manifest to all (4:15). Paul says to Timothy in verse 16: “give attention to yourself and to the teaching abide continually in them.” So a faithful pastor/teacher is to be in the Word personally for his spiritual growth and to abide in it and by doing these things a pastor will save himself and those who hear him (4:16). Guarding Ourselves Warm-up: 1 Timothy 4:6–16 - Dave Roper Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Acts 20:28 We can expect attacks on the sheep—savage wolves from without and wolves in sheep’s clothing from within. So, as Paul warns, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock. . . .” Guarding others begins with guarding ourselves. On this preoccupation everything depends. As the wise man said, “Above all else, guard your heart” (Proverbs 4:23). Søren Kierkegaard wrote in his journal that “would-be theologians . . . must be on their guard lest by beginning too soon to preach they rather chatter themselves into Christianity than live themselves into it and find themselves at home there.” What he writes about would-be theologians remains an occupational hazard for all of us: How easy it is to chatter on about a God we do not know and traffic in unlived truth. We should heed James’ warning about speakers being more likely to be hypocrites than anyone else (James 3:1–12). Paul said to Timothy, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). It’s vital to stay in touch with God. The alternative is to do damage to ourselves and to those we want to help. If our personal lives are disordered, others’ lives will also be in disarray. We must take care of ourselves first. By doing so we take the first step in saving others. Life drains us. There is the ministry itself—working with others, planning activities, studying, thinking, preparing messages. There’s the monotony of doing the same things day after day—dozens of tedious endeavors. And then there is our own everyday job of fighting temptation, suppressing our passions, working with God to correct our faults. Our work gets to be wearisome and our energy ebbs away. We need perpetual renewing of our original impulse, drive, and desires; like a spring-driven clock we need to be wound up again. And so we need our solitude, not mere privacy and time alone, but time alone with God, a regular, specific time and place to read His Word, to pray, to worship, a beginning place from which we can practice God’s presence through the day. “Without solitude,” Henri Nouwen wrote, “it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life.” Solitude begins with a time and place for God, and Him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but that He is actively present in our lives—healing, teaching, and guiding—we need to set aside a time and space to give Him our undivided attention. Jesus said, “Go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6). Oswald Chambers said, “The only way to survive in ministry is to steadfastly refuse to be interested in ministry and to be interested only in Jesus Christ.” Without that preoccupation, we have nothing to say and no reason to serve. But how do I manage it? Something or someone always opposes me; my best resolutions go awry; I find it hard to get to that secret place and shut the door. When I was a much younger man, I met with an earnest friend who invited me to join him in developing a “consistent quiet time,” as he put it. I knew that prayer and worship was my primary task, and I wanted more than anything else to learn how it was done, but his plan never worked for me. I couldn’t get the hang of it. I’d stay with his scheme for a week or two, rising very early each morning to agonize my way through a regimen of prayer. It was a discipline I imposed on myself—somewhat like devoting oneself to doing fifty push-ups every day. I knew the program would be good for me, but I hated the drill and in time I gave it up, believing that I wasn’t one of those destined for meditation and prayer. It wasn’t until much later that I stumbled across something that changed my mind—something David said: “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, LORD, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8). I realized for the first time that the first move was God’s. He was taking the initiative to meet with me! Those deep longings to be alone with Him were not mine at all, but His. My desire to meet with God was His voice calling out to me, saying, “Seek my face.” And then I recalled what Jesus said to the woman at the well—almost a throw-away line—about the Father seeking us to worship Him (John 4:23). It’s that idea of God wanting me, seeking me, missing me that renewed my soul. And so He calls to me—His depths to mine. Deep within God and within me, it seems, there is a place for just the two of us, and without that fellowship we both ache in loneliness and emptiness. And so I have come to believe that worship is not a matter of my trying to get God’s attention, but of my listening for the call of God. I am not the seeker, He initiates my love. Worship is my response to Him as He reaches out to me, speaking to me. And, as a friend once said, “It’s up to me to be polite enough to pay attention.” G. K. Chesterton said that the whole Bible is about the “loneliness” of God. That’s a new way of thinking about Him—to believe that what He always wanted was my love; that though He knows every urge of my mean little heart, He still likes me and wants to be my friend (cf. John 15:15); that in some mysterious way, He not only wants me but actually needs me and calls me to seek His face. The idea that my longing is actually His voice calling—that idea alone—has changed the way I look at my quiet moments with God. They are now neither duty nor discipline, but rather an answer to one who wants to know me and to be known. The Psalter Hymnal includes this wise anthem: I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me; It was not I that found, O Savior true, No, I was found of Thee. Thou didst reach forth Thy hand and mine enfold; I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea, ’Twas not so much that I on Thee took hold, As Thou, dear Lord, on me. I find, I walk, I love, but O the whole Of love is but my answer, Lord, to Thee: For Thou wert long beforehand with my soul, Always Thou lovest me. A GOOD MINISTER 1 TIMOTHY 4:6 INTRODUCTION. There are three things absolutely necessary if a man is going to be a good minister of the Lord Jesus. I. THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT HE MUST KNOW. A. He must know that he is saved. 1 John 5:13. B. He must know that he is called of God to preach. 1 Tim. 1:12. C. He must know that men are lost. John 3:18. D. He must know God’s remedy for the lost—namely the Gospel. 1 Cor. 15:1–4. II. THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT HE MUST DO. A. He must preach the Word. 2 Tim. 4:2—This involves study, 2 Tim. 2:15—prayer, 1 Tim. 2:8; without fear, 2 Tim. 1:6–8. B. He must practice what he preaches. 1 Tim. 4:7, 1 Tim. 4:12; 6:11. C. He must love people. 1 Tim. 4:12; 1 Cor. 13. III. THERE ARE SOME THINGS HE MUST REMEMBER. A. He must remember that time waits upon no one. 1 Cor. 7:9; James 4:14. B. He must remember that Jesus said, “Ye are the light of the world.” Matt. 5:14. C. He must remember that he is going to stand at the judgment seat to give an account. 2 Cor. 5:10. 1 Timothy 4:7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; KJV 1 Timothy 4:7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. NKJ 1 Timothy 4:7 But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. NET 1 Timothy 4:7 But reject those myths fit only for the godless and gullible, and train yourself for godliness. BGT 1 Timothy 4:7 τοὺς δὲ βεβήλους καὶ γραώδεις μύθους παραιτοῦ. Γύμναζε δὲ σεαυτὸν πρὸς εὐσέβειαν· CSB 1 Timothy 4:7 But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness, ESV 1 Timothy 4:7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; NIV 1 Timothy 4:7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. NLT 1 Timothy 4:7 Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives' tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. YLT 1 Timothy 4:7 and the profane and old women's fables reject thou, and exercise thyself unto piety, MIT 1 Timothy 4:7 Keep your distance from profane and sentimental myths, but exert yourself to develop a godly life. NJB 1 Timothy 4:7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales. Train yourself for religion. NRS 1 Timothy 4:7 Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives' tales. Train yourself in godliness, RSV 1 Timothy 4:7 Have nothing to do with godless and silly myths. Train yourself in godliness; NAB 1 Timothy 4:7 Avoid profane and silly myths. Train yourself for devotion, GWN 1 Timothy 4:7 Don't have anything to do with godless myths that old women like to tell. Rather, train yourself to live a godly life. BBE 1 Timothy 4:7 But have nothing to do with unclean and foolish stories. Give yourself training in religion: have nothing to do with 1 Ti 1:4; 6:20; 2 Timothy 2:16,23; 4:4; Titus 1:14; 3:9 discipline yourself 1 Ti 1:4; 2:10; 3:16; 6:11; Acts 24:16; 2 Timothy 3:12; Titus 2:12; Hebrews 5:14; 2 Pet 1:5-8 Click here for in depth exposition of 1 Timothy 4:7. Waiting For The Weekend Exercise yourself toward godliness. —1 Timothy 4:7 Today's Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:6-11 “Good morning! Only 1 more day until Friday!” Our local traffic reporter counts down to the weekend for his morning radio audience. Many in his audience are likely thinking all week about hitting the bike trail, heading for the beach, or teeing off in the morning mist. Paul told Timothy that physical exercise does profit us “a little” (1 Timothy 4:8). Regular exercise and recreation can help to restore our perspective, to tone up our muscles, and to recharge our batteries. But Paul said that “godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (v.8). The trouble is that many Christians today emphasize physical exercise almost to the exclusion of spiritual exercise. Paul also said, “Exercise yourself toward godliness” (v.7). Regular spiritual exercise such as prayer, Bible study, walking in the Spirit, sharing Christ with others, serving others, and living a pure and holy life are “profitable” for both time and eternity. A healthy body, healthy mind, Should be the Christian's goal; But it is more important still To exercise the soul. —Bosch To keep spiritually fit, feed on God's Word and exercise your faith. Strengthening the Heart It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace. Hebrews 13:9 Today's Scripture & Insight: 1 Timothy 4:6–11 The neighborhood fitness center where I have worked out for years closed down last month, and I had to join a new gym. The former place was a warm, friendly facility, patronized by those who liked to socialize while they worked out. We hardly ever broke a sweat. The new gym is a hard-core facility filled with serious men and women, earnestly invested in building better bodies. I watch these people strain and toil. Their bodies look strong, but I wonder if their hearts are being strengthened with grace. The heart is a muscle—the muscle that keeps the other muscles going. It’s good to build and tone our other muscles, but the essential thing is doing whatever keeps the heart strong. So it is with our spiritual heart. We strengthen and tone the heart through the Word of truth by receiving its message of God’s goodness and grace. Keeping our spiritual heart strong and fit must be our first priority, the one thing we do above all others. May I feed on Your goodness every day, Lord, so my heart will grow stronger through the Spirit. God’s training is designed to grow us in faith. Jerry Bridges - THE PLACE OF PERSONAL DISCIPLINE Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 1 TIMOTHY 4:7 It is possible to establish convictions regarding a life of holiness, and even make a definite commitment to that end, yet fail to achieve the goal. Life is strewn with broken resolutions. We may determine by God’s grace to stop a particular sinful habit—entertaining lustful thoughts, criticizing our Christian brother, or whatever. But alas, only too frequently we find we don’t succeed. We do not achieve that progress in holiness we so intensely desire. Jay Adams puts his finger on the problem when he says, “You may have sought and tried to obtain instant godliness. There is no such thing....We want somebody to give us three easy steps to godliness, and we’ll take them next Friday and be godly. The trouble is, godliness doesn’t come that way.” Adams goes on to show that the way to obtain godliness is through Christian discipline. But the concept of discipline is suspect in our society today. It appears counter to our emphasis on freedom in Christ and often smacks of legalism and harshness. Yet Paul says we are to train or discipline ourselves to be godly (1 Timothy 4:7). The figure of speech he uses comes from the physical training that Greek athletes went through. Paul also said, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training” (1 Corinthians 9:25). He said this was an attitude of his life, and one that each Christian should have (1 Corinthians 9:24–27). If an athlete disciplines himself to obtain a temporal prize, he said, how much more should we Christians discipline ourselves to obtain a crown that lasts forever. As these verses indicate, discipline is structured training. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary lists as one definition of discipline, “training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character.” This is what we must do if we pursue holiness: We must correct, mold, and train our moral character. Discipline toward holiness begins with the Word of God. Paul said, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). The last item he mentions is training or discipline in doing righteousness. This is what the Scriptures will do for us if we use them. Jay Adams says, “It is by willing, prayerful and persistent obedience to the requirements of the Scriptures that godly patterns are developed and come to be a part of us.” We read in Scripture, “You were taught...to put off your old self...to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24). Where are we taught these things? Only in the Word of God. Discipline toward holiness begins then with the Scriptures—with a disciplined plan for regular intake of the Scriptures and a disciplined plan for applying them to our daily lives. Here our cooperation with the Holy Spirit is very clear. A diagram of our interaction with the Spirit looks like this: The Holy Spirit has already done a good part of His work by providing us with the Scriptures to discipline us. And as we learn them, He will faithfully bring them to our minds as we need them to face temptations. As we seek to apply His Word to daily situations, He will work in us to strengthen us. But we must respond to what the Holy Spirit has already done if we are to expect Him to do more. So we see that we must discipline our lives for a regular healthy diet of the Word of God. We need a planned time each day for reading or studying the Bible. Every Christian who makes progress in holiness is a person who has disciplined his life so that he spends regular time in the Bible. There simply is no other way. Satan will always battle us at this point. He will try to persuade us that we are too sleepy in the morning, too busy during the day, and too tired at night. It seems there is never a suitable time for the Word of God. This means we must discipline ourselves to provide this time in our daily schedules. I have found the early morning hour before breakfast to be the most profitable time for me to read the Bible and pray over areas of concern and need. That is also the only time of day when I can be consistent in my principal means of exercise—jogging. To do all this before breakfast requires that I get up at five o’clock. And since I need about seven hours of sleep each night, that means I must be in bed—lights out—by ten P.M. That is hard to do. It can only be done by disciplining my evening hours. Some wives may not find this time before breakfast practical, especially if they have very young children or must get the rest of the family off to work or school at an early hour. In this case they may find the time immediately after breakfast to be most suitable for time alone with God. This, too, requires discipline to take time when the responsibilities of the day are demanding attention. Whether before breakfast or after, morning or evening, the point is we must all arrange our schedules to provide for this daily intake of the Word of God. A disciplined intake of the Word of God not only involves a planned time; it also involves a planned method. Usually we think of methods of intake as falling into four categories—hearing the Word taught by our pastors and teachers (Jeremiah 3:15), reading the Bible ourselves (Deuteronomy 17:19), studying the Scriptures intently (Proverbs 2:1–5), and memorizing key passages (Psalm 119:11). All of these methods are needed for a balanced intake of the Word. Pastors are gifted by God and trained to teach the “whole counsel of God.” Reading the Scripture gives us the overall perspective of divine truth, while study of a passage or topic enables us to dig more deeply into a particular truth. Memorization helps us retain important truths so we can apply them in our lives. But if we are to pursue holiness with discipline, we must do more than hear, read, study, or memorize Scripture. We must meditate on it. God said to Joshua, as he was assuming leadership over Israel, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it” (Joshua 1:8). To meditate on the Scriptures is to think about them, turning them over in our minds, and applying them to our life’s situations. Few of us practice meditation on the Scriptures. Somehow the idea of meditation sounds like something medieval monks did in monasteries. Yet Joshua, a very busy commander-in-chief of the army of Israel, was told to meditate on the law of God day and night. The practice of meditation on the Word of God—simply thinking about it and its application to life—is a practice we develop through discipline. Most of us think we don’t have time for this, but there are blocks of minutes during the day when we can meditate if we develop the habit. I am something of a “bug” for the daily news and I enjoy listening to the news on the radio as I drive to and from work or elsewhere. One day I was challenged by the example of a friend to use that time to meditate on Scripture verses. Now I am surprised at how many minutes I can use to think about Scripture passages and their application to my life. You may not have the same opportunity I have to meditate as you drive, but if you prayerfully think about it, you will probably find other opportunities in your schedule. The objective of our meditation is application—obedience to the Scriptures. This too requires discipline. Obeying the Scriptures usually requires change in our patterns of life. Because we are sinful by nature, we have developed sinful patterns, which we call habits. Discipline is required to break any habit. If a boy has developed the wrong style of swinging a baseball bat, he cannot just decide to change instantly. He has developed a certain habit, and much discipline—much correction and training—is required to break that bad habit and develop a new one. In the same way, our patterns of disobedience to God have been developed over a number of years and are not broken easily or without discipline. Discipline does not mean gritting your teeth and saying, “I’ll not do that anymore.” Rather, discipline means structured, planned training. Just as you need a plan for regular Bible reading or study, so you need a plan for applying the Word to your life. As you read or study the Scriptures and meditate on them during the day, ask yourself these three questions: 1. What does this passage teach concerning God’s will for a holy life? 2. How does my life measure up to that Scripture; specifically where and how do I fall short? (Be specific; don’t generalize.) 3. What definite steps of action do I need to take to obey? The most important part of this process is the specific application of the Scripture to specific life situations. We are prone to vagueness at this point because commitment to specific actions makes us uncomfortable. But we must avoid general commitments to obedience and instead aim for specific obedience in specific instances. We deceive our souls when we grow in knowledge of the truth without specifically responding to it (James 1:22). This may lead to spiritual pride (1 Corinthians 8:1). Suppose you were meditating on 1 Corinthians 13, the great love chapter. As you think about the chapter, you realize the importance of love, and you also see the practical outworkings of love: Love is patient and kind and does not envy. You ask yourself, “Am I impatient or unkind or envious toward anyone?” As you think about this, you realize you are envious toward Joe at work who seems to be getting all the breaks. You confess this sin to God, being very specific to name Joe and your sinful reaction to his good fortune. You ask God to bless him even more and to give you a spirit of contentment so that you will not continue to envy Joe, but will instead love him. You might memorize 1 Corinthians 13:4 and think about it as you see Joe at work. You even look for ways to help him. Then you do the same thing tomorrow and the next day and the next till finally you see God working a spirit of love in your heart toward Joe. This is discipline toward holiness. You will never put to death that spirit of envy toward Joe without a definitely structured plan for doing it. That plan is what we call discipline. You can readily see that this structured training in holiness is a lifelong process. So a necessary ingredient of discipline is perseverance. Any training—physical, mental, or spiritual—is characterized at first by failure. We fail more often than we succeed. But if we persevere, we gradually see progress till we are succeeding more often than failing. This is true as we seek to put to death particular sins. At first it seems we are making no progress, so we become discouraged and think, What’s the use? I can never overcome that sin. That is exactly what Satan wants us to think. It is at this point that we must exercise perseverance. We keep wanting instant success, but holiness doesn’t come that way. Our sinful habits are not broken overnight. Follow-through is required to make any change in our lives, and follow-through requires perseverance. Jonathan Edwards, who resolved never to do anything he would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of his life, also made this resolution: “Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken, my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.” At first glance these two resolutions seem somewhat contradictory. If Edwards had resolved never to do anything he shouldn’t do, then why talk about never giving up the fight regardless of how unsuccessful he might be? Was he not sincere in making the first resolution? Yes, he was sincere, but he also knew there would be much failure and that perseverance was required. So he first resolved to seek to live a holy life, then to persevere despite the failures he knew would come. A verse of Scripture I often use in the face of failure with my own sins is Proverbs 24:16: “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.” The person who is disciplining himself toward holiness falls many times, but he doesn’t quit. After each failure he gets up and continues the struggle. Not so with the unrighteous. He stumbles in his sin and gives up. He has no power to overcome because he does not have the Spirit of God at work in him. One of the chapters in the Bible we have the most trouble with is Romans 7. Christians are always trying to “get out of Romans 7 and into Romans 8.” The reason we don’t like Romans 7 is because it so accurately mirrors our own struggle with sin. And we don’t like the idea that we have to struggle with sin. We want instant victory. We want to “walk in the Spirit and let Him win the victory.” But God wants us to persevere in discipline toward holiness. Some feel that such statements of Paul’s as “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15) are too strong for a Christian walking in the Spirit. But what Christian can deny that this is often his own experience? The truth is, the more we see the holiness of God and His law revealed to us in the Scripture, the more we recognize how far short we fall. Isaiah was a prophet of God, walking in the righteousness of God’s commandments. Yet on seeing the Lord God in His holiness, he was compelled to cry out, “Woe is me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). As we grow in the knowledge of God’s holiness, even though we are also growing in the practice of holiness it seems the gap between our knowledge and our practice always gets wider. This is the Holy Spirit’s way of drawing us to more and more holiness. This is illustrated by the following graph: As we progress in holiness, we come to hate sin (Psalm 119:104) and to delight in God’s law (Romans 7:22). We see the perfection of God’s law and the rightness of all He requires of us. We agree that “his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3), but are “holy, righteous, and good” (Romans 7:12). But during all this time we also see our own inner corruption and our frequent falls into sin. We cry out with Paul, “What a wretched man I am!” (Romans 7:24), and we want to give up. This we dare not do. If we would succeed in our pursuit of holiness we must persevere in spite of failure. (BORROW The pursuit of holiness - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) Spiritual Exercise Read 1 Timothy 4:7–16 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:8 Clergyman and author Phillips Brooks said, “The great purpose of life—the shaping of character by truth.” Godly character and conduct are far more important than golf trophies or home-run records, though it is possible for a person to have both. Paul challenged Timothy to be as devoted to godliness as an athlete is to his sport. As an athlete must control his body and obey the rules, so a Christian must make his body his servant and not his master. When I see high school football squads and baseball teams going through their calisthenics under the hot summer sun, I am reminded that there are spiritual exercises that I ought to be doing (Heb. 5:14). Prayer, meditation, self-examination, fellowship, service, sacrifice, submission to the will of others, witnessing—all of these can assist me, through the Spirit, to become a more godly person. Spiritual exercise is not easy; we must “labour and suffer reproach” (1 Tim. 4:10 KJV). A Christian who wants to excel must really work at it, by the grace of God and to the glory of God. Something to Ponder What are some of the ways you labor and strive in your spiritual endeavors? (Warren