The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 14 November 2019 – Rebuke Not An Elder
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TOPIC: Rebuke Not An Elder
READ: I TIMOTHY 5:1-7
- Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers,
- older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.
- Honor widows who are really widows.
- But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God.
- Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
- But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.
- And these things command, that they may be blameless.
THE MESSAGE:
In today’s text, Paul admonished Timothy not to be arrogant, but to show humility in treating elders as fathers. The word elder is used in this context to mean an aged, not an officer of the Church. Lack of respect for the aged is one of the menaces in our society today. The Bible says, Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you (Exodus 20:12). Perhaps, the untimely death that we experience in our society today may be as a result of lack of respect for elders because the scripture cannot contradict itself.
In the community of Christians, we have various groups of people based on their age and we must be able to identify them and treat them as such. When an elder goes astray, it is our obligation to correct him in love with wisdom and humility in order to lead him in the path of righteousness. We should do this as we would treat our own parents. We should be polite in addressing the elders and we should not abuse them.
PRAYER: O Lord, please give me a heart of humility and respect for the aged in Jesus mighty Name. Amen.
