Paul Instructs Timothy - Part 7

The next characteristic Paul addresses is that of being “unthankful.” The Greek defines this as being ungrateful, which I immediately connect to rudeness and taking kindness from others for granted. Webster gave some further insight; he included “making ill return for kindness”—in other words, responding to kindness by being unkind.

Next on the list is being “unholy” or wicked. Those who are wicked have totally rejected the morals established by God’s law. Webster even uses the phrase “addicted to sin” to define this characteristic. They take joy in hurting others. We live in a culture of people who are addicted to so many things, many of which are a result of their dependence on self and/or other men. This has infiltrated the church as well as the world. Scripture is clear that we are to be dependent upon God for everything. When we seek His wisdom first, He will provide for us according to His will and will sometimes use others in making that provision. I remember a verse in Chronicles jumping out at me as I was reading through the scripture one day.

2Chr. 16:12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.

Obviously, the Lord wasn’t stating that it was wrong to utilize doctors. It stood out to me, however, that it is wrong to place one’s faith in doctors over and above one’s faith in God.

The list goes on, and being “without natural affection” is next. The Greek made specific reference to being hard-hearted toward your relatives. It seems to follow in natural progression from disobedience, ingratitude and wickedness. The news of the last several years has been full of stories of husbands killing wives, wives killing children, children abusing parents, and parents abusing children. I frankly don’t remember these types of stories as a child and young adult. I’m sure there were random instances of those types of things, but they certainly didn’t dominate the news as they do today. Again, the news includes accounts of professing “Christians” who kill and abuse their families.