DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- A PURE HEART, A CLEAN CONSCIENCE, AND SINCERE FAITH

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – A PURE HEART, A CLEAN CONSCIENCE AND A SINCERE FAITH

"Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith." (I Timothy 1:5)

Paul had a special concern for his protege, Timothy, whom he called his "son in the faith." In verse 4 of this chapter, he expressed his concern that Timothy would remain true to the Gospel and confront those who would get sidetracked by fables and endless genealogies that only cause arguments.

As a young pastor, Timothy encountered some who had strayed from the essentials of the Gospel and in the process their faith was ship-wrecked. Their faith had hit the shoals of unbelief. Paul was not afraid to call them out and name them – Hymenaeus and Alexander. His admonition to Timothy was to confront these heretics with love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from a sincere faith (vs. 5).

These qualities of a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith are still essentials for us to be victorious in our Christian lives because without them we live under the cloud of condemnation. Without them, we can be drawn away and become shipwrecked. Impure motives and hypocrisy are a sure way for a person's faith to hit the shoals in the turbulent sea that we live in.

A pure heart – free from corrupt desire and being tainted by what is false and impure, and being filled with what is sincere and genuine; a good conscience – upright and honorable, without a shadow of condemnation; and a sincere faith – unfeigned, undisguised, without hypocrisy – these are the things that will help us wage a good warfare with integrity.

May our determination and intention be to have a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.

Love, Dad