URC Daily Devotion Friday 26th September 2025
1 Timothy 4: 6 – 10
If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe.
Reflection
By TV ads and YouTubers we could be influenced to believe that appearances are everything and physical training will fulfil our every dream. I am delighted that this letter reminds us that it is only of ‘some’ value. This is to put my physiotherapy and Pilates in their rightful place: beneficial to health but not a fountain of youth.
Even when the writer speaks of pursuing godliness it is described as being ‘valuable’ and holding ‘promise’, not a panacea. These verses serve to remind us that, despite what we are told, our lives are not firmly divided into physical, spiritual, or mental boxes – this might best be described as an “old wives’ tale”, which we should have nothing to do with.
Humans and humanity are complex. As we identify separate attributes, it serves us well to accept how they overlap. Physical health impacts our mental and spiritual life, our mental health affects our spiritual and physical, our spiritual wellbeing shapes our physical and mental. Multifaceted, interrelating fullness. The same is true of the natural environment, where different species, plants, and processes influence each other.
Complex wholeness is of God, which is a saying that is sure and worthy of full acceptance.
The previous verses of this chapter name the godly and ungodly; another form of dualism that the writer rejects. ‘Everything created by God is good’, we are told. We might ask, “How?” in a world of climate change, injustice, and war, but we should remember our own influence in these affairs and in the ways we persuade ourselves and others that we are divided, hated and failing.
God created us in our complexity, even as we divide. Hope on the living God.
God loves us from our beginning to our end, even as we hate. Hope on the living God.
God made us whole and perfect, even as we struggle and fail. Hope on the living God.
As verse 11 goes on to say: ‘command and teach these things’.
Prayer
Loving God, who created all things as good,
we take a peaceful moment to rest in your truth that all is good, including me.
We think this day, of the truth we can tell (or have told),
that speaks of your goodness,
that shows love by our actions,
or that strengthens another in their complex wholeness.
In thanksgiving and hope we pray, Amen