Daly Devotion July 1

July 1: 2 Timothy 4:1-5

KJV Key Verse: 2 Timothy 4:5
5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions , do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Devotion:
In this second letter to Timothy, the apostle charges him before Christ with preaching the Gospel to everyone. He does this before Christ because it is only Christ who will be able to judge us based on the fact He paid for our sins on the cross with His own life. But it is not just a simple Gospel message we should be reading out to people; God wants us to expound on the word by studying it and using it as an effective evangelical tool to convict people in their hearts.

Preaching is not just something we do on a Sunday or on the Sabbath but something that should be constant and continual so that it continues the work when we are not speaking. The problem comes with mankind spreading a watered down version of God’s Word or a corrupt version in which man’s own desires are met rather than the requirement from Christ. When we lift up our own ways instead of Christ’s ways we are in fact breaking the one things Christ says we should never break – His own words.

When we look over our Bibles and start thinking we can bend the rules a little here or there just so we can have our own ways, we are lifting up our own ways instead of Christ’s ways. The more we think we can do our own thing the more we want to go off and do our own thing. This is like setting your mind at doing something difficult and then getting itchy feet at the thought of having to do the hard work.

Don’t let your desires get the better of you or your convictions. Make sure that Christ’s ways are held up high and held fast as the truth. When we bend the truth we are no longer telling the truth but hiding it behind our ways and our desires instead. A fairy story may seem like a really good story, but it is only a fairy story and not real. We need to make sure we stick with Christ’s teaching and uphold His truth before all else!

Points to Ponder:
Do you make your own rules?

Do you really think your ways will change the actual truth?