Struggling Towards Perfection

STRUGGLING TOWARDS PERFECTION

1 Timothy 4:6-16, Acts 24:16

God created us, gave us full freedom to make decisions in this world. Even

though sometimes we are like naughty kids, He never rushes to punish us. However, it's

interesting that unless we get punished by God, we often forget to change. People usually

do not change spiritually until a great, drastic change is absolutely needed. People never

go to Christ before they feel very guilty and in need of forgiveness. Neither do they grow

in Christ without frustration or difficulties that push them closer to God. This is the sinful

man's arrogance which has been carried all the way till this day.

Such spiritual change is usually evoked by conditions that are painful or

embarrassing. When I was in school, there was a great event on my campus which

attracted almost the whole country. Besides being on the committee, I was also assigned

to take care of the closing events. It was obviously a very busy and tiring time; someone

had offered to help out. For some reason, I got mad at him, thinking that he was meddling

in my business.

That night I could not sleep well; that really bothered me till morning. Why was I

so impatient? If I didn't change, then I could hardly have any friends. My friendships

would be disturbed, and so will be my service. My friends will avoid me, my reputation

will be smeared. The next day, I rushed to see him, I apologized to him and retrieved my

peace of mind.

Sometimes God lets us to ridiculous things so that we can fall, feel ashamed and

see our deficiencies in this life. That way we seek to change, bring ourselves closer to

God. If we are closer to God, positive changes will automatically follow.

1. Our Old Self

What did our old self do and believe in? “godless myths and old wives' tales” (1 Tim

4:7a NIV). Clearly godless myths and old wives' tales mean false teachings. This is the

tradition of heretics. Such teachings are not Biblically based. However, such teachings

are still discussed by ignorant people who do not obey the word of God. Paul also

reminded Titus (Titus 1:14), and Timothy regarding the same issue in his second letter (2

Tim 4:4).

Before one believes in Lord Jesus, the influence of tradition is indeed very strong;

even new believers also experienced such difficulty. Pressure from parents and relatives

that are still in such tradition is still great. If one doesn't have firm faith accompanied by

support from the environment, then he could easily stumble to sin. That is why Paul

reminded Paul to not” devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.” (1 Tim 1:4

NIV). Maybe sometimes we need to find out about false teachings, cults, but we should

not be influenced by them. That is why guidance from the church like Bible Study and

Layman's Bible Institute are very important.

A blacksmith may use all his heavy duty tools like hammer and saw, but he

should never be careless so as to hit himself. So is it with chemist who is assigned to do

research on narcotics, the chemist should never be influenced by those drugs.

Nowadays Feng Shui, Horoscope, fortune teller are very widespread in magazines

and newspapers. If you asked me whether we may read them? I would say yes. What

stops you and why should you fear such things? The question is, however, “Why should

we read them? The time allotted to read Horoscope could be spent reading the Bible and

Christian books. Why should we waste our time doing such useless things?

2. Our Present Self

1 Timothy 4:7-8 records that physical practice like the depiction of an athlete who is

practicing, especially when they are about to enter a big competition like the Olympiad

that is very famous in Greece. Physical practice and body maintenance are the ways to

respond in taking care of God's temple (1 Corinthians 5:19-20) and to serve Him

(Romans 12:1-2). Physical practice is useful only when we live in this world. Once we

pass away, then our body remains here, we cannot carry it with us. I am sure that the

victims of earthquake and tsunami include those who are well educated and good

looking. Yet when they died, their bodies became cadavers and useless. But, if when they

were alive they had been won by Christ, then their temporary death was meaningless,

because they would be together with Christ in Paradise.

Our life needs spiritual practice the most to prepare us for the future. Apostle Paul

indeed never says that we only need physical exercise, but he also emphasized the need

of spiritual exercise. A healthy body without spiritual health is very dangerous. The

healther we are, the more prone we are to sin. But, if our health is accompanied with