1 Timothy 6 (HCSB)
Honoring Masters
1 All who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters to be worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and His teaching will not be blasphemed. 2 Those who have believing masters should not be disrespectful to them because they are brothers, but should serve them better, since those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved.
False Doctrine and Human Greed
Teach and encourage these things. 3 If anyone teaches other doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness, 4 he is conceited, understanding nothing, but has a sick interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is a great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.
8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
Fight the Good Fight
11 But you, man of God, run from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life that you were called to and have made a good confession about in the presence of many witnesses.
13 In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you 14 to keep the command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 God will bring this about in His own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, 16 the only One who has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; no one has seen or can see Him, to Him be honor and eternal might. Amen.
Instructions to the Rich
17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real.
Guard the Heritage
20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent, empty speech and contradictions from the “knowledge” that falsely bears that name. 21 By professing it, some people have deviated from the faith.
Grace be with all of you.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 5-8): Lord, please forgive me in my constant struggle with contentment and always putting the level of my contentment on other people and on material things.
PROMISE (verses 14-15): You promise us that Jesus will return to us in all His glory when the time is right (Your timing).
ATTITUDE (verse 11): God, please help me to fight the good fight by having an attitude of righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness so that I may exemplify and glorify You.
COMMAND (verses 11-14): You command us, Lord, to always fight the good fight for the faith by pursuing You and the Godly qualities as well as always having a good confession against witnesses.
EXAMPLE (verses 6-8): You give us a perfect example of godliness and contentment in that our contentment should be in You, not material gain or people. If we have food and clothing, this is good. You remind us that not only did we bring nothing into this world, but also that we can bring nothing out of this world into our eternal life with You.
*DAILY NOTE: The example God gives here with regards to contentment is so powerful and I felt like God was constantly slapping me upside the back of my head with every verse I read in this chapter. I definitely need to work harder on this and continue to pray for the Spirit to remind me when I'm doing things that are not in line with the qualities outlined in verse 11.
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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