Fuel

1 Timothy 6:12-16

What is fueling us? 

1 Timothy 6:12b-14

What are you running on? 

"Cynicism is not a neutral position — and although it asks almost nothing of us, it is highly infectious and unbelievably destructive. In my view, it is the most common and easy of evils. I know this because much of my early life was spent holding the world and the people in it in contempt. It was a position both seductive and indulgent...

Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position either. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like... keeps the devil down in the hole. It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. In time, we come to find that it is so. 

- Nick Cave, The Red Hen Files 

What are you running on? 

Jesus as our renewable hope

Isaiah 40:31 

1 Timothy 6:14-16

Secondary suffering thrives when we mistake responsibility for omnipotence. When we confuse moral concern with total control. When we turn legitimate fear into a referendum on our worth.

- Kate Bowler 

Jesus as our hope:

• Who gives life to everything (6:13) 

• The one who will appear again (6:14b)

• The Only Ruler (6:15) 

• King of Kings and Lord of Lords (6:15) 

• Who alone is immortal

• who lives in unapproachable light 

• who no one has seen or can see

To him be honor and might forever. Amen.