Immerse Yourself

"Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress." 1 Tim 4:15

It never ceases to amaze me that I continue to pick up new insights in God's Word, especially after going through it year after year for more than a decade. Sometimes, this new insight comes in the form of God expressing himself in way I hadn't seen or perceived. But sometimes it comes in words and phrases that simply hadn't registered in my mind.

Such was the case this morning as I read through 1 Tim 4. This is a somewhat familiar passage where Paul is directing Timothy to remain true to his calling, to exercise his gifts and to put into practice all that he had learned, especially the things Paul had written to him about. Paul's extension of all of this is that Timothy (and us) are living examples of the grace and the power of the gospel.

But the phrase that was new to me, what I had read dozens of times and never really recorded in my heart and mind was the phrase from v15, "immerse yourself in them". In fact the original Greek says to "be in them". Wow! What a reminder to me that this faith, this life, this grace is not an add on, not a coat to wear over a suit which is over a shirt which is over my heart. No, this gospel, this love, this mercy, this submission of my will to God's goes all the way to the core. By the power of the Spirit, we need to dive into this gospel, into the grace Jesus freely provides. Being a disciple of Christ is not a tweak on our already pretty good lives. It is not even a remodel of a totally messed up life. It is a full fledged reconstruction of a life destroyed by sin but purchased and redeemed by the blood shed on the cross. We must be immersed in these things!

Can you rejoice with me today over the small phrases in God's Word that have big impacts on how we see Christ, how we perceive his grace and mercy, how we embrace the cross and the gospel and how we live our lives as examples to the Church and as spotlights to a lost and dying world?

To God Alone be the Glory