Apostasy is on the rise. Just about every month, the news of an influential person in Christendom falling away from the faith goes viral. To see so many men and women whose ministry I’ve benefited from denouncing Jesus Christ has been jarring. At times, I find myself feeling like one of the disciples in the upper room after Jesus announced, “one of you will betray me” (John 13:21), asking, “Lord, is it me?”
This uncertainty has gained traction as the virus of apostasy hits closer to home. I’ve gotten text messages from friends and had countless cups of coffee with brothers and sisters in Christ wrestling with their faith. In all of these conversations, the common denominator is their disillusionment with the Church. They’ve found it challenging to trust Christ when His Church often appears untrustworthy, lacking godliness, sincere faith, and love. And like God, they have become fed up with the lukewarm Christianity they have witnessed, online and in-person, and spat it out (Revelation 3:16).
The letter Paul writes to Timothy could easily be written to any pastor today. In Paul’s context and ours, people are falling away, and false teaching is rampant. Knowing the difficulty of exhibiting godliness in this kind of environment, Paul calls for elders and deacons to exhibit godliness in their leadership and charges Timothy to pursue, teach, and value it above all earthly gain.
The commitment to godliness Paul calls Timothy and church leaders to is not innate to humans. Instead, we are innately spiritually dead, committed to our comforts, desires, pocketbooks, and reputations. Only the spirit of God can resuscitate us, removing our stony self-centered hearts and replacing them with a God-centered heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26–27 makes it clear, the remedy for ungodliness does not reside within us but Christ. He is both our example of and means to a life of godliness.
However, this life of godliness isn’t just for ourselves. It’s also for others. Sure, you made a personal decision to follow Christ. But the moment you said yes, you were transplanted into the household of God with many brothers, sisters, and onlookers, making your relationship with God communal and missional. Because of this, how we live with others matters.
Paul confirms the significance of our conduct by concluding his requirements of elder and deacon, adding that they must have a good reputation among unbelievers. Now, we know Paul is not calling for compromise. Instead, he calls for uncompromising godly conduct that doesn’t cause people to distrust Christ and His bride.
Sound doctrine coupled with sound conduct is the key to our ability to proclaim Christ boldly. When the two are aligned, we partner with God to make the mystery of godliness—Christ—known.
I’m currently doing a different study, so I haven’t been commenting daily, but I do read through and pray for this community. Thank you for your prayers.
I believe Yana summed everything nicely about today’s devotion and Scripture up in her last two sentence.
Sisters be blessed and watch your heart.
I don’t often comment but I so appreciate the opportunity to read, study and pray alongside each of you ❤️ asking for prayers this month as I am finishing up a graduate program in teaching and looking for my first job. I am not sure if I want to stay in the classroom or seek other opportunities in education. I know many of you are teachers as well, so happy teacher appreciation week to you!! Grateful for this community
I am grateful for this community of women who love Jesus and who show that love in so many ways….through your prayers, genuine joy with praises, compassion, revelation of God’s word through the Holy Spirit, availability to sustain others during sadness, humble reflection. Thankful for you all! ❤️
Don’t hate on deconstructed Christians. I needed to deconstruct my faith to find Jesus Christ at the heart and it is amazing how much the church clings to churchy things
We moved into our new home May of 2020 with a new baby #4 and an overwhelming renovation. Due to restrictions and reactions to the virus, church going wasn’t even an option for a period of time, let alone finding a new one. As a stay at home, homeschooling mom, I relied on the regular weekend fellowship of church, so when it was stripped away due to many things I felt bereft and floundering. It was during this time that I really picked up the nagging and passive aggressiveness to my husband in putting “finding a church” at the top of the list! In some not-so-peaceful “discussion” (read *fruitless* discussions mentioned in 1 Timothy 1:6), my husband was able to admit to losing his trust in people of church leadership roles from his own experience and seeing blaring hypocrisy, and was struggling marrying that distrust with leading his family into possibly the same scenario he grew up with. It was during this time of chaos as a family with all the new and changing things that the Spirit finally got through my thick head to just let it go and be still. Be still and know that God saw us, saw my heart, saw HIS heart. It was in that stillness that I was reminded that I had 4 little disciples who were eager to learn, we had a new neighborhood that we had the opportunity to be “set apart” to as we slowly get to know them, and that my husband loves the LORD and wants to lead us in a greater knowledge of Him. I have wonderful Christian woman in our homeschool co op that fill my cup up, and the moments with new neighbors have been amazing and Spirit filled. One couple whose children are grown and gone have showered us with generosity and we found out they are believers through their “fruit”. We pray for them and enjoy having the family of Christ across the street. This passage always reminds me of the old saying “actions speak louder than words.” If we are known by our lives and our “fruit” it is convicting to make sure we are cultivating something that looks set apart, draws people in, and inspires them to question why we are that way. I love the peace in waiting on Him for “church” and am blown away where he has made a way when I thought there was no way. I feel we are more motivated to be the church to those around us when I can’t take for granted checking of the weekly attendance as a building. But I will say a good, God-fearing church full of other sinners does make my heart happy!
Amen, we have to die to ourselves daily and be a continuous example to others. This was so important to talk about. As it happens a lot and can distort the view of faith. I loved today Devo.
Yes and amen!