The HUNT

All of us have pursued whatever in whatever times and seasons of our life, right?

At the close of last year (2025) a verse (1 Tim. 6.11) leapt out at me that I've been meditating on ever since. Apostle Paul writes to his young charge/church leader Timothy (1 Tim. 6.10,11) warning him about going after wealth and the associated miseries of it, and then lists 6 essentials to go after. So often in scripture the Lord tells us to run from and then what to run to!

v10. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

v11. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.

FLEE- run, run away, get far from it fast as you can.

MAN OF GOD- man or woman of God simply means God is first, what you're all about in terms of identity, Who/what you're centered on, seeking and serving with intent to honor and glorify and witness about in the world.

PURSUE- For a deep dive of this term please see https://biblehub.com/greek/1377.htm but how illuminating -Paul is at core telling Timothy to aggressively chase after, to seriously hunt, to acquire these six things for his life. Note- all of these are sourced in God Himself and all but faith (in one sense) are virtues of the Lord. They are to be nurtured in relationship with the Him and His people.

RIGHTEOUSNESS- It's a clear Bible truth that Christ IS our righteousness and we have none but for Him and HIS righteousness imputed to us -and equally clear Paul wouldn't tell his younger disciple go after these six including righteousness if it were a completely done deal would he? It would make zero sense if we were literally perfected this side of heaven, to write Timothy to pursue these.

GODLINESS- This speaks of the very nature of God Himself. A massive tip-off on such is by studying Paul's comments re. Who He is and the attributes and virtues in His very being- see 1 Cor. 13 and Gal. 5 on the fruit of the Spirit for examples of this. The Father calls us to mirror Himself, to become ever more like Him in Christ by the power and our cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

FAITH- God in Himself has more than faith and the term here has to relate to Timothy and all humans as such. It is a gift of God like righteousness, Paul elsewhere says everyone has it but of course not all grow and deepen in faith toward God- Father/Son/Spirit and the Word of God, these as well as personal and growing relationship with Him is core and ground of saving faith given by the grace of God to "whosoever will, let them come". "For not all people have faith" as the scripture tells us.

LOVE- John tells us (1 John) that God IS Love. I've often reminded people that even for a genuine follower of Jesus it's not automatic that we love God -and clearly not that we love our neighbor as our self. This again is a matter of intentional thought, prayer, growth and action in serving not merely emotional, feel-good vibes!

PERSEVERANCE- The other term in most English translations (and it rings well with the Greek) is ENDURANCE. It is not merely the one who begins to walk with the Lord (see Jesus' Gospel account often called "The Parable of the Sower" and the 4 categories He expounds to His disciples on with clarity) but the one who continues, abides, perseveres under trials and with endurance finishes "the race set before" us.

GENTLENESS- Oh my. This one gets me and always has. My nature apart from Jesus, is not a default of gentleness but a fault to be quick, sharp and often rude. I'm not always aware of it but too often I am... I have repented regularly right through my lifetime for lack of gentleness and have grown in it but always need more of all of these six elements and surely have never overdosed on being gentle. In the present day the temptation for many of us is in the other direction, God help me and us! Though it may not always seem like it, God is incredibly gentle and patient (hand-in-hand, those...) with me and each one of us... may we grow more in this area.

All this begs questions: what are you pursuing? Who do you most admire? Are these core to their character and example of life? Your key influencer/s will undoubtedly affect your own attitudes and behaviors.

I suggest if we pursue Jesus Christ and a life that honors Him it follows we will be hunting long and hard for these six!

And as always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn