1 Timothy 6:11-12 BSB

“11But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses.”

Paul wrote these words to Timothy, man to man, but the instructions he gave him here are not limited to Timothy only, but for all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, what was he telling him to flee from? From false doctrines which are contrary to the teachings of Christ, abusive talk, many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction, and giving preference to the riches of this world, which is the root of all kinds of evil, which may lead to wandering from the faith (see 1 Timothy 6:3-10).

So we are to flee from all kinds of evil, not just the ones listed here, and we are to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. And righteousness is whatever is deemed right in the eyes of the Lord, which is all that is honest, morally pure, upright, godly, faithful and obedient to our Lord’s commands. And godliness involves us living in walks of obedience to our Lord, in surrender to his will, and no longer as slaves to sin, for we are being transformed by God into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

And faith, which comes from God, for which Jesus is the author and the perfecter, and which is not of our own doing, not of human flesh, but which is born of God and gifted to us by God, and is persuaded of God, requires that we deny self, die to sin daily, and follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands from here to eternity. It does not demand that we be absolutely perfect in every way but that sin must no longer be our practice, and now following our Lord in obedience is to be what we put into practice.

And love, which also comes from God, is agape, which means to prefer, and in this case to prefer what God prefers, which is all that is deemed right in the eyes of the Lord (as listed above). And love does no harm to a neighbor. And perseverance involves us staying the course, keeping the faith, walking in obedience to our Lord, following his lead, and refraining from sinful practices. And gentleness is reserved strength. It is meekness, but it is not weakness. For Jesus was meek, but he was not weak. He spoke the truth in love to the people out of love for them, even if they hated him in return.

And to fight the good fight of faith is done with the armor of God (see Ephesians 6:10-20), which involves us putting into practice in our daily lives our faith in Jesus Christ, the truth of God’s Word, righteousness, the gospel of Christ, and the sharing of the gospel with others. And we must walk in the salvation God provided, which teaches that we must deny self, die to sin, and obey our Lord’s commands. And we must live what God’s Word teaches us, and we must use his Word to fight off the enemy of our souls, too.

And if we take hold of the eternal life to which we were called when we made the good confession of faith in Christ, possibly also before many witnesses, then we follow the teachings of Christ and of his New Testament apostles which teach us that faith in Christ, which is genuine, involves us denying self, dying to sin, and walking in obedience to our Lord, in practice. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to our Lord, then we do not have salvation from sin, nor do we have eternal life with God promised us.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Jesus, Rescue Me

Based off of Romans 7:7-25 thru Romans 8:1-39
An Original Work / September 18, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Jesus, rescue me today.
Listen while I bow and pray.
I need Your help to obey You;
Live for You always.
Meet me in my hour of need, Lord,
As I pray to You.
Help me walk in fellowship, Lord,
Living in Your truth.
Jesus, how I long for You to
Change my heart anew.

Father, God, my heart’s desire
Is to live for You this hour
In Your Holy Spirit’s power
Living in me now.
Teach me to walk in Your love, Lord,
Guiding me each day.
Help me to show love and kindness
To the lost, I pray.
Father, teach me to love others
As You love always.

Holy Spirit come in pow’r.
Revive our hearts in this hour.
Change our hearts to be like You, Lord;
Live for You each day.
Help us to forsake our sins, Lord,
As we humbly pray.
Teach us how to live for You, Lord,
Obey You always.
Holy Spirit come in power,
Revive us today.

The Good Fight of Faith
An Original Work / July 2, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love