Be An Example

"Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe." --- 1 Tim. 4:12

According to 2 Cor. 5:20 we are all ambassadors for Jesus Christ the instant we believe in the death, burial and resurrection. "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." In Paul's first letter to Timothy, he outlines five areas of our lives we must be disciplined in to have an effective ambassadorship. If one of our main functions as a Christian is the represent Jesus Christ to the rest of the world, wouldn't you agree that it would be important to know what God's Word has to say about how we should do it? Let's take a look at what the Bible has to say on this subject.

The first area is speech. Nothing can hurt a Christian's witness quicker than speech because it is usually the first thing people notice about us. Ephesians 5:4 says "there must be no filthiness (obscenities) and silly talk (foolishness), or course jesting (verbal ridicule), which are not fitting..."

The second area is conduct. Conduct is defined by Webster as "a mode or standard of personal behavior as based on moral principles." Conduct is basically thoughts taken to the next level. There are only two areas in which we can operate in the CWL, the flesh or the spirit. There is no grey area, it is always one of the two. Galatians 5:19-21 tells us what our conduct will be if we operate in the flesh, and Galatians 5:22-23 tells us what it will be if we operate in the Spirit.

The third is love. There have been more songs and movies written about love than any other subject. We all want to be loved, and we all want to give love. The problem is God's definition of love is completely different than the world's definition. The world teaches us to love based on the object being loved. God tells us we must throw that concept completely out the window and love based on who God is and what Jesus Christ did for us. We are only able to love other's unconditionally because God first loved us unconditionally. You can't give something you don't have.

The fourth area is faith. There are two types of faith in the Christian life: saving faith and living faith. Saving faith is the faith we place in Jesus Christ for our salvation. This is a one time deal. Living faith is what Paul is talking about here. Living faith is a moment by moment walk where we make the decision to have faith (completely rely upon) the promises in the Word of God. This is the Royal Family Honor Code that we as Christians are called to adhere to.

The final area Paul writes about is purity. 1 Cor. 6:18 makes it very clear that we are to "flee immorality." To keep this one simple...don't do anything with your girlfriend/boyfriend that you wouldn't do if you were with them in a room with your mother, grandmother, little sister, Dr. Brettell, Bobby Joiner & Jesus. That should pretty much take care of that one!

The bottom line is if we discipline ourselves in these 5 areas we will "show ourselves to be an example of those who believe," which is what we are all called to do.