STAY PURE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

1 Timothy 5:22b

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Paul finishes up chapter 5 of his first letter to Timothy, we find him sharing some exhortations for his ministry counterpart and the Ephesian church he pastored. We’ll look at these over the next couple of messages, beginning with todays from the second part of verse 22.

Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

There’s been a saying that’s been around for awhile and maybe you’ve heard it used or even experienced it in action.

“Misery loves company”

Misery here is personified, treated as if it has human characteristics beyond simply being an emotion. Rather than enjoying isolation, misery is portrayed as being a social being who enjoys being in the company of others.

How does this translate to a meaning we can understand and apply?

The idea here is that people who are living in unhappiness tend to want to extend that unhappiness to others who they associate with. Rather than consider moving out of despair toward joy, an unhappy person would rather try and displace the contentment of another and replace it with depression and gloom. Typically, these people will rebuff any overtures to cheer them up and change their murky attitudes.

As we go back to the words of the Apostle Paul, we find that we could rewrite the aforementioned saying, substituting for the word “misery”. It would read like this:

“Sin loves company”

Like misery, this is all too true. Satan is good about convincing a person sin is okay by leading them into the company of other sinners. In doing so, sin is more normalized than righteousness.

This is why the scriptures provide words of caution in regard to who a believer chooses to associate with. Consider these passages:

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14

But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. 1 Corinthians 5:11

Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked. Proverbs 25:26

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. Psalm 1:1

Like yeast that works its way through dough when introduced, infecting and changing its composition, so too does sin infiltrate the mind and heart of a believer if allowed, leading them into transgression and wickedness. Paul didn’t want this to happen to Timothy or his brothers and sisters in the Ephesian church, and so he firmly encouraged them to not share in the sins of others and by doing so, maintaining their spiritual purity in the sight of the Lord.

Friends, we need to heed the guidance from God’s word and exercise caution when it comes to who we allow to influence us. If we choose to hang out with sinners minus the intent of ministering them to repentance, we will soon find our good character corrupted as we act and behave as they do.

In other words, we will move further from Christ and closer to Satan who wants nothing more than to draw us to himself.

With that, I think you can see how much is at stake here and why we need to heed Paul’s call to stay pure. For if we allow Jesus to shape us more than the world and those who live for it, like we should as Christians, then we can ensure we avoid the sin that wants to have company with us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.