Isn’t It Time for You To Quit Daydreaming And Get
To Work?
But refuse profane and old wives’
fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
— 1 Timothy 4:7
When the time came for our family to
move to Moscow to start our next church, my wife and I knew that God wanted us
to turn over the care of our large church in Riga, Latvia, to our associate
pastor. After serving as a son in the Gospel for many years, he was as
well-trained and prepared as anyone could be to step into the position of
senior pastor of that church.
My associate was so excited. Just as we
were certain he was the man to lead the church, he was convinced that God had
chosen him. This was the day he had dreamed of for so long! After serving me
for so many years as my associate, he would finally step into the senior pastor
position and lead this great church. The vision of God was exploding in his
heart as he dreamed of what would be accomplished in the ensuing years.
So with great reverence, my associate
and his wife knelt on the platform of the large auditorium before the Riga
congregation; then Denise and I laid our hands on him and installed him as the
leading pastor of that congregation. After turning over the church to his care,
my family and I turned our attention to the new work God had called us to
establish in Moscow.
After the first year of leading that
church by himself, my former associate told me, “Rick, I had no idea how much
responsibility is placed on the senior pastor of a church. I thought I
understood so much, but now I see that there was so much I never comprehended.
It was only after you left and the whole weight of the church became my
responsibility that I really began to realize the enormous responsibilities of
a senior pastor.”
I listened with great interest as he
continued to give me his views about leading a large church. Then he said to
me, “You know, it finally dawned on me that this wasmy responsibility
and that I couldn’t depend on anyone else to lead this church. As pastor, it’s
up to me to guide and to see that things are being done correctly. It’s a huge
responsibility to lead a church — much bigger than I ever realized!”
That conversation made me think of what
Timothy went through after he became the pastor of the church of Ephesus — the largest church in the world at that time.
Imagine how extremely stretched Timothy must have felt as he led the
world’s largest and most famous church! Yes, he had served at Paul’s side for
many years and was as prepared as anyone could possibly be for such a task. But
now Paul was gone, and all eyes were on him!
The demands placed on the pastor of a
large church are immense. His care for the church is nonstop. Twenty-four hours
a day he must be available to the members of the congregation. Leaders must be
trained; rebels must be corrected; and finances are needed to pay for the
church as it grows. And in addition to church responsibilities, the pastor is most
often a husband and a father as well. He has a massive church family to oversee
and manage, and he also has his own personal family for which God will hold him
responsible.
Timothy was just settling into the job
of senior pastor when Paul wrote him the letter that became the book of First
Timothy. At the time, Timothy’s responsibilities were increasing daily. His
massive church was becoming even more massive as it continued to grow. He was
constantly training new leaders and replacing old, rebellious leaders who
thought Timothy was too young to be pastor of such a prominent church. And in
the midst of it all, Timothy was learning how to cope with being the most
visible Christian leader in a large metropolitan city. It was in the midst of
these developments that Paul wrote to him and said, “But refuse profane and old
wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.”
The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly what
these old wives’ fables were. However, it seems that Timothy may have been so
exhausted that he was starting to daydream about finding an easier and more
trouble-free way to do his job (like all of us are tempted to do from time to
time). I have personally wondered, Was Timothy tempted to daydream about life in the
ministry becoming simpler? Was he hoping that things would eventually become a
lot less hectic, demanding, and complicated? If Timothy was thinking
along this line, his musings would definitely fall into the category of a fable!
When God trusts you enough to give you
more and more responsibility, it always demands more of you, not less.
I gave up the idea many years ago of thinking that life would eventually become
less demanding. Ministry is work,
and none of us should ever forget that fact!
If you are mightily anointed by God, it
is just a fact that your schedule will get busier, your demands will increase,
and your challenges will grow. But as long as you allow God to develop your
character along the way, you will find that you’re able to successfully manage
anything He puts on your plate!
Paul ordered Timothy to quit
fantasizing about things getting easier, telling the younger man to “…refuse
profane and old wives’ fables….” The word “refuse” tells us how strongly Paul
felt about Timothy’s frame of thinking. It comes from the Greek word paraiteomai, and it means to reject, to refuse, to rebuff, to decline, to
snub, or to decisively turn away from something.
It denotes the attitude of a person who is so disgusted with something that he
has resolved he will have nothing to do with it. His feelings about this issue
are so pungent that he sharply rejects what is being offered to him and
vigorously declines any form of participation in it.
Whatever these “old wives’ fables”
were, Paul viewed them as extremely detrimental — so much so that he strictly
ordered Timothy to reject these notions. To better understand what these “old
wives’ fables” might have been, let’s see what the words “old wives” and
“fables” mean in the original Greek.
The Greek word translated “old wives”
is grauodes, which comes
from the wordgraus, the word for an old woman. But when the word graus becomes grauodes, it denotes anything that is old-womanish. The word
“fables” is the word muthos,
which typically describes fictitious stories and is where we get the terms mythsand mythology.
The word muthos describes legends, folklore, or fairy tales — the kind of stories an old woman
would tell to entertain her grandchildren. One New Testament Greek scholar
speculates that Paul was saying in effect, “Timothy, it’s time for you to quit fantasizing that
you’re going to escape hard work and find an easier way to do what God has
called you to do. Why, this unrealistic kind of thinking is the stuff of fairy
tales! You’re thinking like an old woman who tells fairy tales to children.…”
Instead, Paul challenges Timothy to
adjust his thinking and to take a different approach to the challenges he
faces. Rather than pray for these challenges to go away, Timothy should embrace
those challenges and use this time to develop himself. This is Paul’s message
when he tells Timothy to “…exercise thyself rather unto godliness.” As noted
earlier (see November
3), the word “exercise” is the Greek word gumnadzo, which describes the strenuous physical exercise required to produce
the finest athletes.
When you are physically or mentally
exhausted, your mind may be tempted to daydream or to wander to other places.
It is amazing how the mind tries to escape from reality. But rather than let
yourself float away on a cloud of fantasy that doesn’t help you fulfill your
God-given assignment, ask the Holy Spirit to help you see things realistically.
That’s the only way you’ll be able to put your whole heart and soul into
completing your task exactly as Jesus wants it done! You can do
great things for God’s Kingdom, but it will require both concentration and
commitment!
Lord,
help me to stay focused on what You have called me to do and to embrace
everything that comes with Your call on my life. Forgive me for the times I’ve
tried to find a shortcut to avoid responsibility. I want to put my whole heart
into the race You have set before me — to fulfill my assigned task fervently,
passionately, and with the highest level of excellence.
I pray this in Jesus’ name!
I
confess that I am both faith-filled and realistic about what God has called me
to do. I realize that it’s going to take hard work and commitment to take this
assignment to the high level that God expects of me. I refuse to shrink from my
responsibilities, and I choose to put my whole heart and soul into the task
Jesus has given to me.
I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!
1. Have you been trying to mentally
escape from the responsibilities of your life? Have you been living in a
fantasy that things are going to change without any effort?
2. What do you need to do to bring
concrete change to the challenges you are facing in your life? What steps can
you start taking today — right now — to start turning things around for the
better?
3. Have you considered asking a close
friend to help you focus on the things you need to be doing to get things
moving in the right direction in your life? Who is a friend you could depend on
to encourage you to take the right steps toward needed change?
