Quality Instruction

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

Well, I thought that I was going to go through this book much, much faster than I did through Romans. But if this is any indication of what is ahead I don't think that is going to happen. Every time I come back to read some more I end up hearing something very important for my heart in the very same verses again. But then, that is the primary reason I come here anyway – to hear something from God, not just to cover ground reading the Bible. So I will not complain or feel guilty about sitting in the same spot for extended lengths of time. What I value more is that God continues to share new things with me and especially things that affect the way my heart perceives Him.

When I compare this verse with the descriptions of the alternative kind of teachers in both the preceding and following verses, I sense that I need to be convicted of the times when I participate more in fruitless discussions than in meaningful instructions. And since I don't want to stay in that position but want to learn how to align myself more closely with the right kind of dialog with others, I feel the need to meditate on these verses and listen to what the real difference is between these two paradigms.

I really like the simplicity of this description of the right kind of instruction. There are three things that can be viewed as trademarks of healthy spiritual dialog. The first is love from a pure heart. This is the most important goal of the three listed here and the one most needed to prepare us to see God. It is learning to live in love and not fear that is the only way that anyone will ever be prepared to encounter the close presence of the living God and survive without being tortured in agony of spirit. Only as we learn to respond with love that is without resistance to the love flowing toward us from God's heart will we be able to live in the presence of love of that magnitude. Thus the need for a pure heart filled with love, for purity simply means that our love will be undivided, undiluted and increasingly loyal to the One who gave His life in love for us.

The second hallmark of good instruction listed here is a good conscience. This is a little bit harder to really understand because of our nebulous ideas about what our conscience actually is. But to have a good conscience in the presence of God is also a very important attitude to pursue if we seriously want to have our hearts and minds in such tune with God's Spirit that we can hear Him speaking to us from the inside on a regular basis. A person who is serious about following the leading of the Holy Spirit in their life will find that there are many things that they can no longer participate in or allow their minds to dwell on or else their conscience will become contaminated and it will be much more difficult to hear clearly the voice of God speaking to the soul.

The last thing listed here as a sign of true spiritual instruction is sincere faith. Again, because we tend to have such confused concepts of what faith really is we fail to realize just what this may be referring to or talking about. What I have been learning is that faith is something that is caught and reflected much more than worked up as I used to think. In fact, I am coming to believe more and more that the best way to increase faith or trust in our hearts is to fill our minds with thoughts and reminders of the enormous faith that Jesus has in us even before we ever began to respond to His love for us. As we become aware of the total faithfulness of God and the things that make Him worth trusting, we will be inspired with faith ourselves. To have a sincere faith is to allow faith to develop in an atmosphere in our heart of acceptance and belief in the truths about Himself that God wants to reveal to us.

Alternatively, a person who is involved in fruitless discussions, who wants to be a teacher of the law while not really knowing what he is talking about but thinks he does, is probably going to be lacking in at least one of these qualifications listed for true instruction. This person will many times be so out of touch with their own heart that they will find it baffling to even comprehend the real meaning of this phrase, love from a pure heart. It may be something that they can dissect and analyze from an intellectual perspective and even pontificate on as teachers thinking that they have figured out just what it must mean. But if they have not allowed their own heart to be humbled before the presence of God and have listened to the longings of their heart for real healing and growth, then they are likely to be found in the latter group and their discussions will tend to be rather fruitless when it comes to affecting the hearts of other people on a deeper level.

Likewise, people who allow themselves to compromise their conscience, who think that they can feed their minds with worldly entertainment or engage in activities out of harmony with the ways of heaven and still be actively involved in leading out in religious instruction for other people's lives; these people will not often even realize that their conscience has been compromised and is not trustworthy to be relied on to lead them in the right direction. Because they have violated their conscience so many times in what they consider little insignificant things, they do not realize that they are not even hearing the real voice of God in their hearts. Instead they tend to depend more on their knowledge of Bible texts, their extensive training in religious training and their acquirement of doctrinal truths to be their support that makes them think they are right with God.

And lastly, the faith that they believe they have is generally only an intellectual “faith” which is really more of an assent to what they believe is truth instead of a heart connection with the heart of God. Their faith is not really sincere from God's perspective and when the day of reckoning comes they will be surprised to hear Jesus say to them, I never knew you. Depart from me... They may have spent their whole life working very hard for God, doing all sorts of very successful religious activities and even leading many others to a knowledge of God as a career veteran in God's church. But because they failed to engage their own hearts in serious pursuit of an intimate connection with Him at the most vulnerable depths of their soul, they will be shocked and even angered when they discover that they have spent all their energies in the wrong priorities.

I want to be keenly aware of the differences between these two kinds of teachers so that I can be aware of when I am slipping into the wrong mode of thinking or teaching. I want to keep myself accountable to this verse that reminds me of the real purpose of all religious instruction. I want my heart to be pure and reflective of God's love for me. I want my conscience to be good and protected from the contamination of worldly influences designed to corrupt and compromise it. And I want my faith to be genuine, sincere and growing each day as I make myself more and more aware of the amazing faith that fills the mind and heart of my Savior and His incredible worth that makes Him worth trusting to the uttermost.