Keep the Main Thing, the Main Thing

# 11 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 1Ti 1:5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, ( 1 Tim 1:5) What commandment? Where have we seen this word “commandment' before in this letter to Timothy? Well, back in verse 1, Paul stated that he was an “Apostle by the commandment of God!” Two different Greek words are used. The first means by “authoritative decree” and was meant to establish Paul's credentials, and the second use, found in our reading today, means “a charge.” The purpose of God in establishing the office of Apostle by authoritative decree was to give these men a charge to pass along the teachings of Jesus which were delivered personally to these men. These teachings, when believed and practiced will produce disciples who love from a pure heart, with good or clean consciences. Both of these fruits flow naturally from those with a sincere unhypocritical faith in Jesus! The key element of course is the sincere faith in Jesus. Without sincere faith in Jesus, the conscience is still burdened by guilt because it is still stained in sin. As Jesus said to the religious rulers of His day in Joh 8:24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." Further, any love that comes from the unconverted, comes from a heart that is not pure by God's standards and falls short of His glory. Isa 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. So you see why the gospel must be kept the main thing. This is the charge that God gave to His appointed Apostles to pass on! It must be received and believed in order to produce love and clean consciences! Jesus said in Mt 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. Keep the main thing the main thing!