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BRAVER THAN LIONS
Sam Stringer
Sep 25, 2024
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the
good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:11-12 NKJV
Interestingly, Paul says these words just after speaking about an oft misquoted text, “the love of money is the root
of all evil,” as quoted from 1 Timothy 6:10. Doubtless, many who quote that verse (and often misquote it by saying
“money is the root of all evil”) fail to see what the context was of the passage in the first place. Timothy was a
ministry companion of Paul, one whom Paul invested much time and energy into, a man that Paul trusted and was
confident was a believer (see 2 Timothy 1:5)
It's easy to take a passage like this and to discount ourselves from it: we might say, oh, it’s written to a man, or it’s
written to a formal servant of God, I’m not living the same level of commitment as those who have given
themselves to full time ministry, etc. Paul wouldn’t say that to a person today, that’s for people in Bible times. Do
you ever hear yourself or others giving these kind of excuses for our failure to live like this way? Honestly, these
words apply to anyone who has called on Jesus to be their Savior. Rather than pursuing the things of this world, we
are all given a challenge of pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. We are all called
to fight the good fight of faith, and we are all called to lay hold on eternal life. Every Christian is called to it and no
Christian is exempt from it.
You may be reading this today and thinking to yourself, I want more specificity when it comes to my calling in
Jesus; this devotional is generic, and I want more as it relates to my calling in this world. I would caution you to
remember that at the core of who we are as Christians, our calling never bypasses these principles. It doesn’t matter
if you’re a missionary deep in the heart of Africa, if you’re a nurse in an American hospital, if you’re a mechanic
underneath a car today, or if you’re even on your death bed. It doesn’t matter what your call is in the sense that this
is a call to all of us despite our particulars. God absolutely has unique stories and situations for each of us, ways
that we were made to be used that aren’t parallel to everybody else, but the general calling for all of us is not
exclusive to select individuals.
Sometimes we lose sight of this calling, and our days can become joyless and our outlook a bit grim. At other
times, we are so full of doing fun things or working hard and carving our paths that yet again, we also fail to see
that calling. It’s easier to ignore the calling on days of delight, I think, because we feel good and we like the
experience, which may be benefiting others, too. Now this is no shaming for feeling good or having productive
days or so forth, because I’d take that any day over the alternative myself. My point is, it’s easy to overlook a noble
calling that is present every day you are living in the Lord. It takes no energy at all to ignore a calling that would
vastly change the qualitative difference in your connection to Christ. Satan will use both bad days and good days to
keep you distracted from this call, and in some sense, does it really matter which way it goes if you never do sync
up with your calling? God is beckoning each of us back to this very plain calling. One of my wife’s favorite quotes,
and I do not where it came from, is this statement: “The good robs from the best.” Even “good” days can distract us
from godly days if we let them.
I once heard a statement that I absolutely think applies to today’s verses: “simple but not easy.” The choice to
pursue our calling is simple, but the follow-through is far from easy. Don’t overlook the grace of God towards you,
though, in following through. Lean into the Holy Spirit, read your Bible, talk to God in prayer, and become mindful
and intentional about your calling. If you don’t live your Christian life intentionally, it will absolutely show up in
your day. We can do nothing to earn the grace of God, and there are many elements of the Christian life that are a
passive experience in that God does them to us and for us without waiting for us to make them happen.
Nevertheless, a Christian life that is lived without intentionality within our moral and spiritual calling is going to be
very hit-or-miss, feeling like a kid just learning to drive a stick shift vehicle for the first time. Can you hear the
gears grinding, the sound of the car jerking, the engine sputtering, the ignition turning over again and again? That’s
how Christianity looks for a lot of us when we forsake the call of living for Christ on a daily basis.
Set your mind on Christ, place your calling before you, and go from there. Is there more of a calling than this
generic one? Yes, of course there is, but it’s hard to go far with that if you’re not really addressing this more basic
call. Imagine with me that your phone is beginning to ring right now, a call is coming in, and you pick up. It’s God,
and He wants you to pursue a life that will please Him and in the process, fulfill you, too.
God be with you, and may you rest in His grace and move forth in faith, daring to be “braver than lions.”
Sam Stringer
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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