A Right Pursuit

As I was praying through the Spiritual Exercise material this morning, I felt like I heard the word 'pursue'. I did a quick word search in the New Testament and it is used only 8 times. The following verses from Paul's first letter to Timothy caught my eye:

1 Timothy 6:6-12 NIV
[6] "But godliness with contentment is great gain. [7] For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. [8] But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. [9] Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. [10] For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

[11] But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. [12] Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

I think these verses speak of the balance that we must reach, as Christians, making sure that we are pursuing the right things. God knows we need material things and Jesus speaks to that in Matt 6:19-34. We however, should pursue the Lord and right behavior and right character. We are trained to pursue education, wealth, success, power, and authority in our educational system, but God has a very different list for us. I guess the Lord's question for me today is what am I pursuing?

So often, I think, our lives are just a bit in automatic mode, where we jump in and just follow the example of those around us, that which we see portrayed and demonstrated. It is like we hop on the conveyor with everyone else and don't really think about our ultimate purpose, our own uniqueness and potential, or destination. That is what I feel Paul is discussing here with Timothy. Tim was a Christian from the time he was a child, and was exemplary in His life, yet Paul is still warning him of the dangers of pursuing wealth, and losing sight of His greater call in God. I think this is valid advice for us all.

Paul is not saying wealth is bad, only that the pursuit of wealth can lead a person astray, and must be balanced with a pursuit of God. God is the wealthiest individual so clearly wealth is not bad, it is just not the end goal. There are many stories of wealthy and powerful people who learned these were in no way able to deliver happiness, peace, love, joy or well-being. Our end goal should be to fulfill that which the Lord, in His infinite love and knowledge of each of us, has called us to do. We are called to be like Him, to exhibit His character and nature to those around us. We are called to the highest attainment possible, that of a son or daughter of God.

My encouragement today is to examine my life, to see what I am pursuing, and to adjust my life so that I am pursuing that which is the highest calling. Wealth may or may not come, but I desire to be a son of God, one who represents Him to all I meet.