Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Wed., 4/14/10 Devotion (1 Tim. 3:15)

Today's encouragement comes from 1 Timothy 3:15, where we read these words:

"But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."

If we can learn to live in the church properly, we can then thrive in every other realm in God-honoring ways. Conversely, if we never be-
come faithful churchmen, then we fail God in all other dimensions of our lives. Many people--even those who profess to be Christians--hate the church. But Jesus does not: He died for her.

On top of all that, the church is, "the pillar and ground of the truth." Let us, as faithful members of Christ's body, hold out the gospel to our dead world, and stand for the truth of the Word of God at every turn.

[Puritan quote of the day: "Happy is he that in his way to heaven meets with with a cheerful and skillful guide and fellow-travel-
er . . . " --Richard Sibbes, in, "The Soul's Conflict with Itself"]