Several years ago, a person I worked with told me, “I’d stab my own mom in the back in order to get ahead here.” It hit me that we live in a culture that will do whatever it takes to climb the ladder of success. It’s the opposite of the example Jesus gave. As the Messiah, He put on the apron of humility to wash the disciple’s feet. They had been fighting about who was the greatest, and He showed them that Heaven’s way is countercultural to the world. As a minister friend of mine says, “While men reach for their thrones, Jesus reached for a towel to wash men’s feet.”
In 1Timothy 6, Paul is teaching Timothy about being not just a church leader, but a follower of Christ. He told him to watch out for people who have a form of godliness, but use their ministry or godliness to climb the world’s ideas of success. By contrast, to have godliness with contentment is great gain. In verse 9 he wrote, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (NKJV). To chase after the world’s ideals and definitions of success is to open ourselves up temptations.
Verse 11 says, “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” Instead of chasing the ideals of the world, we must pursue the things of God. Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness are what we should be looking to cultivate in our life and to strive for. These are spiritual disciplines that require cultivation on a daily basis. They require us to be intentional about pursuing them as we flee what the world is chasing after Because these not only shape who we are, they change who we’re becoming. If we’re going to live countercultural lives, we need to stop chasing worldly values and start pursuing godly ones.
Photo by Patrick Posuniak on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 