1 Timothy 6:11 – The Recourse of Righteousness

But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness… 1 Timothy 6:11, New King James Version

“Our consiousness rarely registers the beginning of a growth within us anymore than without us," reflects George Elliott in Silas Marner. She admits, "There have been many circulations of the sap before we detect the smallest sign of the bud.”

So it is that we find it difficult to envision different selves than the one currently distracted by or drowning in temptation. The sap of God's grace is circulating. We are as surely as Timothy is in the beginning of 1 Timothy 6:11, men and women of God. Even when that first bite has not blossomed yet, the Holy Spirit exhorts through Paul and through like-minded mentors in our lives to pursue the righteousness which is not yet manifest.

This runs counter to the introverted hemming and hauling in which the enemy of our souls would have us waste our energies and this blood-bought day. He would have us focus on grim self-denial if he would concede that we obey Scripture at all. Sure, you in Ephesus' equivalent, keeps saying no to material temptations, say no until you have grown accustomed to closing your eyes to God's glory and provision, until you see yourselves as isolated and disciplined to no greater purpose.

God would not have it so. He teaches us through Paul what to pursue, both in the general outline of righteousness and in the specific checkpoints to follow. He will faithfully show us what righteousness looks like in the choices we face today. He will, even, faithfully connect those seemingly ordinary choices to their great eternal purpose.

Spurgeon charges us as a part of a great, everlasting company in Morning and Evening. He veritably roars before the company like William Wallace in Braveheart, "The vanguard of the army has already reached the shore. We are marching through the depths; we are at this day following hard after our Leader into the heart of the sea. Let us be of good cheer: the rear-guard shall soon be where the vanguard already is; the last of the chosen ones shall soon have crossed the sea, and then shall be heard the song of triumph, when all are secure."

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