YouVersion Reformation Reading Plan, day 278

I Timothy 3 §

Qualifications for overseer:

• Aspires to the office
• Above reproach
• Husband of one wife
• Sober-minded
• Self-controlled
• Respectable
• Hospitable
• Able to teach
• Not a drunkard
• Not violent but gentle
• Not quarrelsome
• Not a lover of money
• Manage his own household well
• With dignity, keep his children submissive
• Not a recent convert
• Well thought of by outsiders

They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

I Timothy 3:9

What does this (it’s a qualification for deacons, not elders) mean? Does it mean to follow Christ even though I know I don’t understand everything? Does it mean not to have doubts, even though everything makes you have doubts?

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.

I Timothy 3:16

I Timothy 4 §

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

I Timothy 4:4

Enjoy sushi? Shrimp? Bacon?

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

I Timothy 4:13

These are the things we should devote ourselves to in the work of Christ.

Ecclesiastes 4 §

…And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them!

Ecclesiastes 4:1

LORD, hear them! LORD, comfort them! LORD, send us!

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor….

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Yep. Pride and jealousy are powerful motivators in my life. Most of the scripture I’ve memorized, I’ve memorized in order to keep up the with men and women around me. LORD, please build in me the desire to learn your Word for its own sake! Teach me to love your ways!

Ecclesiastes 5 §

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, not let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

Ouch! I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.

Ecclesiastes 6 §

…

Ecclesiastes 7 §

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Ecclesiastes 7:20

It is really defeating and disheartening to think about all the ways I have sinned before God. The only refuge I have is in my savior.

Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.

Ecclesiastes 7:21-22

This reminds me of command climate surveys. So hard to hear what people really think, even when you know you could not have done any better.