1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed to yourself, and to the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and them that hear you. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine. These two God hath joined together, and let no man put them asunder. Let not self-hood become a self-righteousness, which ignores the doctrine that we need Christ as our Strength and our Savior, and the Holy Spirit as our Sanctifier. Taking heed to ourselves must not make us daringly self-confident. Some superficial men think that they can go this warfare on their own charges. The whole amour of God is needful, and not the mere equipment of personal judgment and unaided strength. But taking heed to the doctrine, let us remember that it is not a dead dogma, but that the Christian verities are spirit and life. We must not be hearers for others or critics of others, judging one another, and measuring our own virtue by the shock produced in us at the inconsistencies and failings of others. I. TAKING HEED TO OURSELVES AS HAVING STILL THE WEAK FLESH TO DEAL WITH. Knowing what war there still is in our members. Knowing that this same gospel says, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Remembering that the richest lives have made shipwreck, and the loftiest monuments been the first to be shattered by the storm. We must remember that the teacher elevated by honor may be the first to fall. II. TAKING HEED TO OURSELVES, BECAUSE NONE CAN DO THIS FOR US. We know more of ourselves than any other can know. Our tastes, our tendencies, our secret desires, our constitutional weaknesses. We see how the "needle" trembles in the presence of certain loadstones of evil, and we must therefore look within, and he watchful. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." - W.M.S. Parallel Verses KJV: Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. |
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