My Life Verse

Today was the day I read the most convicting passage in the Bible for me, which just so happens to double as the qualification standard any pastor-teacher-elder-overseer must have. If a man does not meet this, he may have the desire, but he's not qualified and has no business in pastoral ministry.

1 Timothy 3:2-7

"...an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil."

Because I try to read two chapters of the NT each day (along with 3 OT and 1 Psalm or 1 Proverb chapter), I also read what became my life verses a few years ago.

1 Timothy 4:12-16

"Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you."