Be Diligent, Be Very Careful............. Be diligent means give special care or take pains with your task. 1 Timothy 4:16 continues with similar intensity: Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers (1 Timothy 4:16). Pay careful attention - watch closely! Keep striving - persevere!1 These activities are vital to save both the Christian messenger and those who hear him. We might think, Of course Timothy had to be careful; he was a leader at Ephesus. Yet Paul gave similar instructions to all the members at Ephesus: Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:15-16). M Later, Jesus found Ephesian members less diligent than they should have been. He sternly charged them, Repent and do the things you did at first (Revelation 2:5). In that verse, Jesus wording is literally, Do the first works! All of this raises questions about works. Why must believers work in such a determined way? Why be very careful - especially when Jesus has taken care of everything for us? Ephesians itself emphasizes that we cannot earn favor with God by our works. Salvation is a gift of grace received through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 15:00:47 +0000
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