Written by Jonathan Melton
1 Timothy 6:10-12 (NRSV) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
The beautiful paradox of life as a disciple of Jesus is evident in instructions like Paul’s to Timothy, where “the good fight” is realized in the pursuit of gentleness. What kind of fight is won by gentleness?
Paul’s logic raises uncomfortable questions for us: To what extent is violence forgetting or forsaking the nearness of the Lord? Is impatience a sin against God’s presence? What are we to make of Paul’s contention that the love of money is violence toward oneself?
Paul exposes our ambitions as desperate attempts to live lives that do not need to trust God. To discover contentment, a deep trusting in God, is to realize each day what theologians like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Jean Vanier have written—the heart and call of the community of faith is to forgive and be forgiven.
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