1 Timothy 1:5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,
6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,
7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
It is my goal to simply do my designated part and function in the Body of Christ, no more but not less. “No more” means to only do as I hear FATHER direct and not “help” HIM achieve some result beyond or outside HIS Plan. FATHER has a unique training plan for each of us and there is no “formula” that I can share that will assure you of reaching some prescribed level of maturity in the Body of Christ. My primary advice continues to be for each of us to focus on our own personal relationship with FATHER to the point we truly know HE is with us at all times and in all situations. HE is not on some distant planet barely able to respond to our cry.
As we focus on the purification of our heart, we will be enabled to see FATHER’S Face. HE tells us to seek HIS Face and if we do HE will heal our land thus we have a responsibility to be active in that pursuit. The path toward the revelation of Love accomplishes that purification process. When you pursue that path, the idle talk ceases and is no longer important to you. What the world thrives on now seems like a waste of time and resources. Instead, you must be about FATHER’S business.
We have a good conscience in knowing that we are truly pursuing FATHER according to the revelation we have and as HE reveals a mystery to us, we embrace it as well. The worst thing we can do is become stationary and cease in our pursuit of maturity. If you are effectively doing things according to a revelation you received ten years ago and nothing else has been revealed to you since, you may want to reassess your path and pursuit.
Those who are called “The Beloved” are the ones who should expect faith to operate in their lives:
Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Your genealogy does not produce anything nor guarantees any position in Christ. Faith works by Love thus Love is the catalyst for your faith to grow. The faith movement in the past century by and large did not consider Love as the precursor to growing in faith. In the end, many people became disenchanted by the lack of fruit as they pursued faith without Love. Men and women wearing the finest clothes were standing up with empty promises of fame and fortune before the masses. They tweaked the carnal desires of those in the audience to pursue their message that promised good fortune. They manage to extract the last pennies from those who could not meet their rent payments. How sad! Agape Love was not in the building! However, there were new planes in the hangar.
There have been those who would promise results if we just walked out a certain formula. It was all about “doing”. Revelation became rituals and rituals became traditions of men. Their formulas would always keep the promised results in the future, just out of reach of the present. Their motives were not based in the purity of Agape Love. You once again needed to perform to get the results from Above. When do you finally judge the fruit and determine the fruit is nonexistent? Modifying men’s behavior does not change their hearts. On the contrary, a change of the heart, will modify their behavior and walk to one of fruitfulness.
What does it mean to stray? In this context, you have lost your first Love. Remember back when the excitement of the revelation of Jesus Christ being your Lord and Savior burst forth in your spirit. Your interest in all else was replaced by the Love for your Redeemer. We must come to the point where our Love for FATHER exceeds our interest in all else. When we move to that state, our faith is activated at a higher level for our trust in HIS Word to us is assured of coming to pass. Why? We know HE Loves us and would only guide us according to the purity and sincerity of that Love. Since HE knows the past, present, and future, HE alone can and will guide us appropriately in our daily affairs. We should trust HIM for the small decisions and direction as well as the large.
Works done without the intent of Love are dead works. Without the understanding of the motivation of Love behind each law given creates idle talk. Tattoos and piercings are prohibited in the Law yet in the U.S., there are more people with tattoos and piercings than ever before. Why were those forbidden? As Dr. Speckhart pointed out, those resulted in an interference of the energy flow of the body. The result would be poor health in the future. It is FATHER’S desire that we be in good health even as our soul prospers. Those who know FATHER’s Divine Intent of Love is behind every law and statute will live a more peaceful and healthy life.
As we pursue walking in Love, our hearts will be pure, we will had a good conscience, and our sincere faith will be exercised in the area HE directs. We will see good fruit abound to our account. Life will be simpler and we will be at peace.