Philemon (ESV) by Wordle*

1 Timothy 1 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Philemon 1:1-25; 1 Timothy 1:1-20.

“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service…” (1 Timothy 1:12).

I am truly humbled by Paul’s statement here. Paul understood that whatever strength he had wasn’t his own. Therefore, he thanked Jesus for the strength he had.

I rarely thank God for my strength. Rather, I want to come to God and show my strength to Him as if it is something with which He should be impressed. “Hey, God, look at me and my strength. Have you seen everything I’ve done for You. Pretty good, huh?” That wasn’t Paul. No doubt, Paul recognized his own involvement in the work he had done. But he was no fool. Whatever he had accomplished had been by the strength given to Him from Jesus Christ. Without Jesus he could accomplish nothing. Thus, Paul’s strength was not his gift to Jesus. Rather, it was Jesus’ gift to him.

I don’t want to think this way. I want to think that somehow I can be strong and show Jesus how strong I can be. However, when I pursue that course, I always fail. How could I possibly think I can impress Jesus with my strength?

Today, I need to recognize I don’t have any gifts to give Jesus. I need the gifts He has to give me. I just need to turn to Him for that and be thankful.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

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Today’s illustrations are provided by the wordle tool at Wordle.net. You can find my wordles here.