MORNING MANNA 5-11-23
A GOOD MINISTER
“If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.“—1 Timothy 4:6
Of all the men who have lived since Christ, Paul is the man I would most like to sit at his feet and learn from. Imagine that! There would be no falling asleep in that class, that’s for sure.
Here in our text we find Paul advising Timothy. Actually he is providing instruction for all believers, because every child of God is to be “a good minister”(servant). There are a lot of church members doing nothing, but there are no members with nothing to do. We all have our assignments. How well we do them depends on whether or not we are “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine”. Sadly too many are under-nourished.
Here’s the point. The late Ray Stedman said,”What do you feed on daily? What do you put in your mind? What is your habitual input in your life? The sports pages, perhaps? Soap operas? The Dow Jones Averages? TV movies? Best-seller novels? If any of these things are your daily diet, then I can guarantee you will be a spiritually undernourished servant of Jesus Christ, because the apostle makes clear that what you feed on is what is going to determine how effective you become.”
He is right, but please don’t misunderstand this. I’m not talking about entirely eliminating all of these things, as though they were sinful. I’m talking about regulating, not removing things. Even sinless things can become sinful when they distract us from our duty.
For the Christian nothing is more important than the teachings of God’s Word. It is our “daily bread”. We should feel like Job, who said,”I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”(Job 23:12). To be a good servant we must discover God’s will and do it. To be a good servant you must first be a good student. Are you? The learning is for the living! It’s my prayer that you will feed on the Word and follow God’s will. That will make you “a good minister of Jesus Christ.”- HDS, 11-14-10
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E.
Humble, TX. 77346
