Joel M Bradshaw

10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

11But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.–1 Timothy 6

Let me start by welcoming all our new followers. I am grateful you start each day by receiving these in your email. Have your coffee or tea when I have mine! Also, this post will bring us past 5000 blog views this year. I remain humbled by all of this. Writing this blog is a blessing to me and having something good worth waking up early for has done wonders for my journey with depression. Thank you for journeying alongside me.

In the biological world some animals have a fight or flight response to certain situations. In the relationship world, we humans have this as well! We all know someone who would rather argue than show grace. This might even be something you struggle with. Well if you call something a struggle, then STRUGGLE with it. TV shows and movies always ask fighters to ‘take this outside.’ Well, take this fight inside.

Inside you are thoughts. Your thoughts influence your feelings. Your feelings influence your attitudes. And your motivations are a part of all that. What describes your motivations? Who are you trying to impress? Whose attaboy or attagirl are you seeking most? Are you pursuing the things of this world most or the things of God most?

Timothy needed to be reminded about pursuing money and therefore worldly things. These are temptations to flee. You cannot hide from God what you pursue most on the inside. What pursuits do you need to flee, because you are clearly losing that inside war?

And now there are things to fight. According to our verses above, the fight is not just fleeing, but pursuing good things like righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. When is the last time you actually pursue those things?

Righteousness and godliness put God first in your heart. This means you adjust your self-talk to discipline your thoughts, which influence the rest of you. Your self talk needs to be 1 Corinthians 10:31. Do it all for the glory of God. Faith and steadfastness mean you trust God no matter what and you don’t give up doing so. Half of my life with MS has taught me to trust God. What is God expecting you to learn in your struggles? I bet it is trust.

Love and gentleness show up in your relationships. When my wife shows me grace when she might have shown me otherwise I know that she has been participating in that inside war. Pursuing Jesus.

Take this fight inside, my friends. To assess how you are doing in this war, I would start with the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Take stock of your branches. Pursue those things. Fight for those fruit. Your inside will then influence your outside. Thank you for journeying with me today. I have some fighting of my own to do.–JMB