May 9 - Conduct Yourselves Accordingly

May 9 - 1 Timothy 3:14-16

Diane says:
Some words have become so ingrained in the culture of the church, that they have lost their impact. We speak of God's family and the Household of God, we call people brothers and sisters in Christ and even within the Catholic church the priest is called 'Father.' These terms of family meant everything to Paul and have been diluted through the ages.

Sometimes my family treated each other worse than we would outsiders because we knew that we had to love each other anyway. That happens in the church as well. Paul tells Timothy that these instructions are to teach people how to conduct themselves in God's household. All of those things that we learned about in the past couple of days (1 Timothy 3:1-13) are the basics for living together as Christians in establishing God's household ... the church of the living God! Lessons we may have forgotten or simply ignored, but nonetheless, lessons we are to learn!

1 Timothy 3:16 is thought to be part of an early church hymn. This is the mystery revealed. This is the truth that the church should teach. This is the truth we should share.

Rebecca says:
Conduct was a big thing to my father. At all times growing up, in every situation and circumstance, every one of us in the family were very aware of how he expected us to behave and handle ourselves. How we acted spoke highly of him as a father, and because we truly thought the sun rose and set on him, that respect motivated us to act accordingly. We were not the only ones, father hung out with a rough crowd down at a little bar called the Railhead. It was a dive of a biker bar and the people that hung there were crass and loud and intimidating, but to us they were friends because they knew my dad. I remember walking into that bar with my sisters to see him and as soon as we walked in you would hear the guys start to tell one another, "Hold it down, Bob’s daughters are here" and they too, conducted themselves appropriately for my father's sake. They bought us cokes and asked about our days and made sure we were being treated well. If one of them slipped up and swore or told a crass joke in front of us, they were bombarded with looks from the crowd and we were immediately apologized to. I know that they did it because my dad was a good man to them. If any of them ever needed a place to stay his door was open, he cooked for them, provided shelter for them, repaired cars for them and was always good for a listening ear, some good advice and a laugh. Their respect for him made them conduct themselves accordingly with his children.

I thought about that as I read the passage about 'conducting yourself in God’s household.' My first thoughts were how my actions are a reflection upon God my Father. Then I started thinking about the bikers in that bar and how they changed their behaviors out of respect for my father. They showed great restraint by holding their tongues which naturally spewed out expletives in every sentence, and it must have taken work to actually listen to us incessently gabbing about girlie things when they would rather have been talking about throttles, or playing darts or some manly thing like that. I was thinking about their code of conduct and the efforts that were made toward my father’s children because of their love for him and I asked myself if I do the same for my Heavenly Father?

Sure I conduct myself in a certain way out of my love for Him, but do I willingly make an effort to conduct myself in a certain fashion with His children out of that same respect?

This God of ours willingly appeared in a body, a vessel much too small to contain His glory. It was a tight, uncomfortable fit in that flesh but He willingly did it for us. He was vindicated by the Spirit, thought crazy by man, insane by some circles and was so Holy, so absolutely gloriously loving that it took the Holy Spirit to help us to even begin to understand the why and how of who He is. His glory is so bright, so thick, so deep, that it is unable to be seen by human eyes, only angels have seen him. His miracles and teachings were so amazing that he was preached among the nations. His calling was so apparant that He was believed by people in a world that had difficulty believing anything, and His love was so pure that He was taken up in glory. How great is our God? How absolutely wonderful is this Father of ours? And how precious are His children. Because of my great love for Him shouldn’t I treat those children with a little more respect? Shouldn’t I conduct myself in a more reverential fashion when I am dealing with them?

It’s easy for the people around me to just be people, human, flawed, ignorant, annoying. It’s easy for me to forget that they belong to His household. Customer service agents, the lady that forgets to merge, coworkers, rarely do I view any of them as children of God. It’s easy to take the Divine out of people, and easy to just let life carry on as usual. But maybe I could learn a thing or two from my father’s biker friends. If they could change their tone and language and even take some time to listen to a gaggle of girls out of respect for my father maybe I could and should do the same for my God. And maybe in the same way that when we entered that bar we heard spread from ear to ear reminders that "Bob's daughters were here" we too should remind one another now and then that "God's daughters and sons are in the house" and conduct ourselves accordingly. Not for the sake of one another, but out of a deep love and respect for One who "appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory." How blessed we are to rub shoulders with his offspring, and how blessed we would be if we remembered they were such and conducted ourselves accordingly!