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Pastor Lud Golz
Pastor Lud Golz

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  Home | Transcript Archive | March | March 17, 2022

Thursday, March 17, 2022

In 1st Timothy 5:1-2 Paul elaborates on the importance of healthy relationships in the life of a servant of God.   

As a young man Timothy would likely experience times when men older than him would do something out of harmony with God’s teaching.  As a pastor he would need to rebuke them, but Paul admonishes him not to do so “harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father.”  Correcting with respect for the person indicates you would want to continue in a healthy relationship with them.  That is not an easy thing to do, but humility and dependence on the Holy Spirit can help you here.   

The same could be said for having to deal with men who are your own age or younger – treat them as brothers.  The obvious import of this is a continuing relationship.  This reminds me of the wisdom of the statement: don’t burn bridges unnecessarily.  The pain of confrontation might strain a relationship, but with time and healing the relationship has the possibility of being restored.  When you burn a bridge in a relationship it is much harder to restore the relationship.

Paul continues by encouraging Timothy to “treat…older women as mothers.”  This would obviously involve a great degree of sensitivity.  Men and women think about and process relationships differently.  They communicate differently as well.  Care must be taken when correction is necessary. 

This is especially true for a man dealing with younger women, especially if he, like Timothy, is young.  Treat them as sisters, again, with a view to maintain a continuing relationship.  We need each other – treat others with care!

 

 

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