Oct 5, 2018
Flee the evil desires
of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. 2Tim 2:22
Human desires and
Godly desires don't mix-- we have to flee one to find the other, so choose
wisely.
Someone once said, youth is wasted on the young. Maybe there’s a connection between that
saying and this verse.
Many of our worst mistakes happened when we are young. Insurance companies know that driving errors
tend to happen more with young drivers than as they get older. Certainly people are more prone to poor
decisions in relationships, finances and lifestyle choices. That’s not to say we don’t sin when we get
older – there are many examples of “youthful thinking” in older people. It just seems like the young are more prone
to sin’s temptations.
Paul says it’s because of our desires. Being young means much less experience and
exposure. The young see life as a long
road ahead instead of a fast-approaching dead end. Many times, the desire to be autonomous and
self-sufficient lead us into hurried choices.
Sometimes our physical desires and emotional passions exceed the level
of maturity in our thinking, taking us away from wisdom. Then there are the negative experiences that
seem so devastating in our youth, which look much less formidable to people who
have lived five or six decades. If you
want to see where our mistakes start, go back to the desires that drive our
decisions.
Paul gives Timothy a simple secret to help fight off sin’s
temptations. Here’s his formula:
Ask a question before pursuing any desire: will this solution bring me closer to
righteousness, faith, love and peace, or send me farther away?
Look at those four factors:
Righteousness – the
root of that word means to act with justice.
Would the method of answering your desire be the right answer (the just
answer to God)? This question deals with
Truth from Scripture.
Faith – pursuing the
answer of faith is about Time. Is it the
right timing for this decision, or is waiting a wiser option? If you aren’t sure the answer is from God and
is His timing, then Faith says to wait.
Love – love is
about Others. Does this decision solve
my selfishness or help others’ needs? Is
this a decision that love people (or myself) the way God would love them (or
me)? Love does no evil.
Peace – sometimes the
best way to know a decision was wrong is by the peace we have with God afterwards. Most people know what guilt feels like. Many come to recognize this as a lack of
peace, and others use this to push out God.
But looking at a decision for the after-affects in our relationship with
God will help us discern the right choice.
If a choice will rob us of peace, it’s not the right choice.
Age has little to do with sin, but age limits our
exposure. So when looking at our
decisions, run them through the 2:22
Test. Will this choice pass for
righteousness, faith, love & peace?
If not, show some wisdom and change the youthful thinking into wise
thinking.
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