Getting closer and closer to the end of my Bible 365 Challenge. I already feel a rush of self accomplishment for having made it this far. I truly feel stronger and more secure in my faith and my walk with Christ. I am definitely proud of myself for attempting this task and committing to follow it through. Week 48 had some great food for thought and I’m sharing the ones that stuck out to me the most.
Love is so complicated (well, only because we make it so). Ask 5 people to define love and I bet you will get 5 different definitions. However, if you want to know where love comes from look no further than 1 Timothy 1:5 which says, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” If we work hard to maintain these three things then we will always be capable of showing love to ourselves as well as others.
Being a woman in the church back in the day was almost like being a child or an outcast. Check out Paul’s view of how women should conduct themselves in the House of God here in 1Timothy 2:9-12: “I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”
I don’t know about y’all but I think Paul would flip his wig if he was alive in today’s society because there are definitely a lift of women teaching in the church. Besides the fact that Paul doesn’t seem to approve of women being superior to men, I haven’t a clue why he would feel this way. I mean other disciplines have felt some type of way about women being bold around Jesus as we read in the earlier books of the New Testament. However, Jesus was quick to correct their harsh words and point out that we are all children of God. Furthermore, there were female prophets who were called by God mentioned in the Old Testament. So, reading this just threw me for a loop.
This scripture I definitely can relate to. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). I can’t tell you how many times people have my knowledge on certain things because they felt I wasn’t old enough to speak on it. At the end of the day, I have gone through a lot and experienced a lot in my life. I believe that alone qualifies me to be able to speak on those topics. I understand that somethings come with age but other things come with having experienced them and I won’t let anyone look their nose at me because of it. My voice and feelings matter just as much as the next person!
“But mark this: There will be terrible Times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, with self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-” (2 Timothy 3:1-4). Just another reminder to watch for signs of coming. There are times when I look around or hear the news and I see we are already witnessing a lot of these on a daily basis.
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