Precisely!

Yesterday someone called, introducing himself as a “voice from the past.” Until he said his name, I had no idea who he was, and for a while during the conversation, had him confused with someone else.

After I got off the phone, I realized what I’d done (didn’t affect our conversation, thank God), and found myself thinking about my mother and her confusion and memory loss. She often forgot the name of things. Once she looked out the window at a field of hay bales and because she could not recall the proper term, she called it a “wonderful field of cattle.”

For me, forgetting who is who is alarming, but because I am a word person and love precise words, I would be extremely distressed should that kind of memory loss happen to me. How terrible to use dreaded words like thingamabob and doohickey instead of the correct terms!

Greek words are more precise than English words. I’m not a Greek scholar and know only a few words, but because I love precision and detail, I have and use a few wonderful resources that help me understand parts of the New Testament that otherwise confuse my thoughts.

On occasion, I do not trust the English translation. The translators may have different word connotations than I do, or they are not as concerned about precise meanings as I am. This happened when I read this verse:

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith . . .  (1 Timothy 1:5)

Paul writes instructions to Timothy who is a young pastor. A quick read of this verse apart from its context and I might assume that he is talking about the commandments from the Old Testament, even the Ten Commandments that most people understand. But he isn’t. The first part of this verse means the aim or goal of his previous instruction. He is not talking about ten commandments or Old Testament law, but about the doctrines of Christianity.

The purpose of the older laws, as explained in the New Testament, is to show us our sinfulness and inability to keep them. As Paul says, the Law is a tutor that brings us to Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24).

Yesterday’s post described how loving others fulfils the other laws from the Old Testament, but this verse from 1 Timothy explains how a person is able to love others. Paul says love comes from the heart through heeding the New Testament instructions regarding a changed life. Only a person with a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith can love the way the Bible tells us to love.

That sincere faith is placed in Jesus Christ alone, for only He can save me from sin. Law-keeping cannot do it because I cannot keep the law. Any efforts to do so not only reveal my inadequacies and sin, but my pride. Jesus forgave my sin and lives in my heart. He is my justification. He does in me what I cannot do myself. To say or think otherwise is sheer vanity. Truly believing He is my Savior means my faith is sincere, without hypocrisy or pretense.

Because of Jesus, I can have a clear conscience too. Sin is forgiven, all sin for all time. If I sin, or more likely when I sin today, it has already been forgiven. All sin can do now is interfere with my day-to-day walk with Him. To keep that uninterrupted and intimate, New Testament instruction says:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

By doing this, my conscience can be kept clear. I don’t need to beat myself up every time I do something wrong. Only a proud person does that because in them is the idea that they should not make mistakes. Humility knows better, and the New Testament says so; I am a sinner.

When faith is sincere and my conscience is clear, then my heart is not muddied up with things like excuses, pretense, guilt, selfish motives, and whatever else would keep that genuine love of Christ bottled up inside instead of flowing out to others.

Jesus is in me. He will make Himself known. I just have to get out and stay out of His way.