Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 251
5:2-20
1 T im o th y
239
brothers. Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger
women with all purity as you would your own sisters.
Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her. But if she has
children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at
home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something
that pleases God.
Now a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed
her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for his help. But the
widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives.
Give these instructions to the church so that no one will be open to criticism.
But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their
own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than
unbelievers.
A widow who is put on the list for support must be a woman who is
at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband. She must be well
respected by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought
up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers and served other believers humbly? Has she helped those who are in trouble? Has she always
been ready to do good?
The younger widows should not be on the list, because their physical
desires will overpower their devotion to Christ and they will want to remarry. Then they would be guilty of breaking their previous pledge. And
if they are on the list, they will learn to be lazy and will spend their time
gossiping from house to house, meddling in other people’s business and
talking about things they shouldn’t. So I advise these younger widows to
marry again, have children, and take care of their own homes. Then the
enemy will not be able to say anything against them. For I am afraid that
some of them have already gone astray and now follow Satan.
If a woman who is a believer has relatives who are widows, she must
take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then the
church can care for the widows who are truly alone.
Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads
out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!”
Do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is confirmed by
two or three witnesses. Those who sin should be reprimanded in front of
the whole church; this will serve as a strong warning to others.
