Do you hold yourself to a high standard? How do you determine if it is high or not? What is your standard based on? How do you go about holding yourself to that standard? Are there people who have invested in you? Who do you lean on to help you hold onto the good entrusted to you?
It seems people have lowered their standards. I remember when a child who was disrespectful to an elder would have been disciplined. Now their parents laugh, thinking it funny. I remember when politicians were statesmen. Now they spend their time pitting people against each other.
The Apostle Paul tells his understudy, Timothy, to hold to the standard Paul had taught him. What was that standard? Based on Paul’s teachings, we can rightly assume it included living according to the commands Jesus gave us. It included loving everyone, showing grace to others, a willingness to forgive, sharing blessings with others, caring for those in need, and teaching people about Jesus.
Paul had spent considerable time with Timothy, investing in him. Paul saw something in Timothy that he could mold and build into a teacher, just as Paul was. Paul knew he had taught Timothy well and that Timothy had received his teaching well. He encourages Timothy to enlist the help of the Holy Spirit to hold onto his teachings and to live up to the standard set.
We can be like young Timothy. We can live up to the standard, but we cannot do it on our own. Just like Timothy, we need to lean on the Holy Spirit. We must trust him to guide us. We must be open to hear his guidance and willing to follow it. It is when we hold ourselves to Jesus’ standard and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we live the abundant life He promised us.
I pray we all decide to hold ourselves to a high standard. I pray we lean on the Holy Spirit to guide us. I pray each one of us will remember the sound teaching we have received. Hold yourself to a high standard. Lean on the Holy Spirit. Remember sound teaching. Live the abundant life.
2 Timothy 1:13-14 Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
Marty Pressey 