More of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”

More of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”

I’m still loving the statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” from 1st Tim 6:19. When I first started to meditate on that phrase it seemed like such a “pie in the sky” kind of statement. After reading those 8 words my mind instantly went racing in all sorts of directions on what that could mean. One of the tracks was about what Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” I had this all mapped out in my mind exactly where I wanted to go with this entry but then I started reading all of verse 19. It seemed to take a whole different direction then where I wanted it to go. I would rather be guilty of proving the scriptures point then be guilty of using the scripture to prove my point. It drives me nuts when I hear people misusing scripts just prove their own point. That’s what the devil did while tempting Jesus, remember? So I really want to get this one right because 1: this phrase really excited me when I first read it and 2: I don’t want to play in the devil’s league. So let’s back up to what all of 19 says: “in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of life that is truly life.” Verse 19 starts off with “In this way”, in what way? I gotta back up further. Verse 18 says: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” So if they do good, be rich in good deeds, and be generous and willing to share then they will lay up a firm foundation for the coming age and they can do what my new favorite phrase says, but who are they? Gotta back up further! Verse 17 says “Command those WHO ARE RICH in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment”. Do you know that you can be poor and put your hope in wealth? That’s a subject for another day, let's move on. So Paul is talking about the rich that attends Timothy’s church, and really all the rich that are in the body of Christ. He’s saying to the rich to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share and if they do this then they will be laying up treasures and they can “take hold of life that is truly life.” He’s not rebuking the rich for being rich but just instructing them to be rich in good deeds. That’s getting kinda wordy. I’m gonna cut all that out and just get to the point. Paul is saying that if we do good deeds, we’re generous with what we have and share, then we’ll be laying up treasures and grabbing hold of true life. Got it, understand that. The funny thing is that Verses 17 thru 19 are part of Paul’s final charge to Tim; it’s the end of this letter. The full final charge is found in verses 11 thru 20. In Verse 12 Paul tells Tim to take hold of the eternal life; that is the same Greek phrase used in Verse 19. So really Verse 17 through 19 is echoing what Paul just told Tim to do himself. So really Paul is saying here is “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”, sort of speak. Paul instructs Tim in verse 11 thru 12 to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Doesn’t that sound like some slices of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:21-23? I love what the end of Galatians 5:23 says about all the slices of the F. of S. “against such things there is no law”. There is no limit on me doing good! That means I can go crazy with self control. If I truly indulge in love, joy, peace, and all the others listed in Galatians 5 and according to Gal 5 there is no limit on how much I indulge in those actions then both 1 Tim 6:12 & 19 tells me that I’m gonna be laying up treasure and grabbing the life that is truly life. Going back to what Jesus said in John 10:10, He came to give that overwhelming life. Are you catching this? This is the life I’m made to live. I’ve tried living other ways outside of Christ and I just felt hollow. Now I find that when I chase after love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, if I’m rich in good deeds, I’m literally grabbing hold of life that is truly life. Typing all that out makes the list seem really long but it’s all really easy to do. Now I really am ready to explode with excitement. This is not some silly “pie in the sky” statement, but it’s an obtainable pie with some serious substance. I gonna float on cloud 9 with that for awhile but I can’t wait for my next entry. I want to break down “take hold of life that is truly life” good ol’Greek style, but I’ll save that for the next entry. Talk to ya & stay blessed!!