DAILY, WEEKEND, AND HOLIDAY INTERNET EVANGELIZE TO THE WORLD MINISTRY

  May 22: Motive Is Everything 1 Chronicles 11:1–47; 1 Timothy 6:3–10 ; Psalm 80:1–19 It’s not often that we take an honest look at our motivations. But it’s important to reevaluate them regularly. When our sight is not fixed on God, we might become entranced with goals that conflict with godliness. Even though we might initially be performing the right actions, our lives will start to reveal the motives of our hearts. Paul addresses this issue within the Ephesian community, where some people were spreading conflict to further their own gain. And this wasn’t just a problem with the perpetrators. This “constant wrangling by people of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who consider godliness to be a means of gain” was like poison, spreading envy and strife throughout the community (1 Tim 6:5). To counteract this, Paul states that “godliness with contentment is a great means of gain” (1 Tim 6:5–6), but the gain he talks about is not success as we traditionally define it. Rat...

  May 21: The Power of Words 1 Chronicles 9:1–10:14; 1 Timothy 5:18–6:2 ; Psalm 79:1–13 Gossip kills churches. And gossip is always painful, especially when disguised as concern. A request to “pray for so-and-so because of this thing they did” isn't asking for prayer; it’s gossip. If you know some personal detail about someone’s mishap, don’t share it with everyone—take it to God. Entire leadership structures have been wrongfully destroyed because of rumors starting this way. Paul warns against rumors when he says, “Do not accept an accusation against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses” (1 Tim 5:19). How often have we heard something and been so influenced by it that we accuse someone based on that rumor? Hearing something may make it feel factual, but it’s circumstantial at best. Although Paul is cautious, he has no tolerance for leaders who repeatedly sin, especially those who sin directly against the community. He tells Timothy to “reprove those who si...

  May 20: From Concept to Caution to Cause 1 Chronicles 8:1–40; 1 Timothy 5:10–17 ; Psalm 78:53–72 Some things in the Bible are downright surprising, including several passages in Paul’s letters. Sometimes his words are so personal, or they’re addressed to such a specific person or our group, that it’s hard to understand why that particular passage is there. But God uses people to do His work, and whatever they show or teach us sets a precedent—like how to deal with difficult people, or how to best help the poor. Some sections of Paul’s letters are rarely read aloud in church; we simply can’t figure out how to apply them. What application can you draw from a long list of people, or from the very specific details of how to evaluate a widow in need in your community (1 Tim 5)? What if there are no widows in your community? Do you just move on? First Timothy 5:10–17 sets a good precedent for us as Christians, and it can serve as a standard for applying other passages. We don’t kno...

  May 19: Outline for Honor 1 Chronicles 7:1–40; 1 Timothy 5:1–9 ; Psalm 78:30–52 In most Western cultures today, we’ve lost our connection with the elderly. With one grandparent living halfway across the country and the others having died before I was born, I wasn’t around older people until I met my wife and her family. Unlike me, my wife had the privilege of knowing her great-grandparents. She has a strong sense of tradition and respect for the elderly, a deep desire to help them in all aspects of life, and she has been able to teach me to do the same. Paul has a similar experience in his first letter to Timothy. Paul says to Timothy, “Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity. Honor widows who are truly widows” (1 Tim 5:1–3). By “honor,” Paul means showing a deep concern and a consistent, earnest desire to help them financially and with their daily needs. What Paul say...