The Hidden Virtues
1 Timothy 4:12:
“Do not let anyone look down on you because you’re young, but set an example for all the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
This is a small excerpt of a letter that the apostle Paul sent to his pupil Timothy, who had found himself in authority of the church at a young age. This is an encouragement and challenge for Timothy, as well as young people today who give in to the negative prejudices and low expectations of their elders. But there is something else hidden within this passage that I think is equally important.
When reading the Bible, it's good to try to apply it to our lives, but when we get to this verse we’ll find ourselves in a small predicament. Paul gives us five virtues to exemplify in our lives: speech, life, love, faith and purity. How on earth does one apply speech and life to his… well, life? To find the answer we must look at the other virtues love, faith and purity.
There is one thing that love, faith and purity have in common: they are all something that people have tried to attain, but have failed to. You may respond, “I love lots of people!” or “I have been faithful in my walk God!” I understand, and if you’re that person, kudos. However, what we have attained is not true love, faith or purity, but merely a reflection of them. True purity, is being completely untainted by any evil lusts. True faith is complete trust in God, wholly given to him. True love is utter disregard for oneself in devotion to another. Only one man in all history has had all of these consistantly throughout his life: Jesus Christ. This is true with all virtues, they simply cannot be attained by man. But life and speech can right? Well, not like Paul was talking about.
You see I think that Paul wasn’t talking about life or speech in general, but a true life and speech that we cannot attain in this life. An untainted life and speech that we must strive for, but can never achieve. This a quality of life that we will only fully enjoy if we enter heaven and are made perfect again, but we can still have a reflection of them in our earthly lives. True life isn’t just doing good things (virtues like love, faith and purity) but how you do them. You have to do them with satisfaction, and with a good attitude. You can’t just say the right things and have true speech, you must say it with the kindness and gentleness of Christ. How and what are equally important, so live your life with the joy, confidence, peace and satisfaction that God wants us to have.
In Christ's love, Aaron.
“Do not let anyone look down on you because you’re young, but set an example for all the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
This is a small excerpt of a letter that the apostle Paul sent to his pupil Timothy, who had found himself in authority of the church at a young age. This is an encouragement and challenge for Timothy, as well as young people today who give in to the negative prejudices and low expectations of their elders. But there is something else hidden within this passage that I think is equally important.
When reading the Bible, it's good to try to apply it to our lives, but when we get to this verse we’ll find ourselves in a small predicament. Paul gives us five virtues to exemplify in our lives: speech, life, love, faith and purity. How on earth does one apply speech and life to his… well, life? To find the answer we must look at the other virtues love, faith and purity.
There is one thing that love, faith and purity have in common: they are all something that people have tried to attain, but have failed to. You may respond, “I love lots of people!” or “I have been faithful in my walk God!” I understand, and if you’re that person, kudos. However, what we have attained is not true love, faith or purity, but merely a reflection of them. True purity, is being completely untainted by any evil lusts. True faith is complete trust in God, wholly given to him. True love is utter disregard for oneself in devotion to another. Only one man in all history has had all of these consistantly throughout his life: Jesus Christ. This is true with all virtues, they simply cannot be attained by man. But life and speech can right? Well, not like Paul was talking about.
You see I think that Paul wasn’t talking about life or speech in general, but a true life and speech that we cannot attain in this life. An untainted life and speech that we must strive for, but can never achieve. This a quality of life that we will only fully enjoy if we enter heaven and are made perfect again, but we can still have a reflection of them in our earthly lives. True life isn’t just doing good things (virtues like love, faith and purity) but how you do them. You have to do them with satisfaction, and with a good attitude. You can’t just say the right things and have true speech, you must say it with the kindness and gentleness of Christ. How and what are equally important, so live your life with the joy, confidence, peace and satisfaction that God wants us to have.
In Christ's love, Aaron.
posted by Avenue Articles at
6:02 PM
1 Comments:
Ha! And what true love exists? You say that your god has true love for you but I don't see it. And I don't see it in humans either.
Show me proof of true love and I will consider it further.
Alexander S.
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