Keeping a Close Watch

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:11 - 16 ESV).

Are we, by God's grace, keeping a close watch on ourselves? Are we in relationships with other brothers and sisters who are keeping a close watch on us? Are we keeping a close watch on one another? 

Are we keeping a close watch on our teaching and our thinking? Does what we believe and teach matter? 

How can we possibly save ourselves and others, by God's grace, from the chaos of this world, from the false teaching so prevalent in the professing church, from the mass confusion permeating the professing church and society, if we are not keeping a close watch on ourselves and our teaching? 

A warship navigating waters that have been mined by an enemy keeps a close watch. A ship sailing icy waters keeps a close watch for icebergs (unless its captain assumes the arrogance that his ship is unsinkable). A convoy in time of war keeps a close watch for enemy submarines. Doctors and nurses treating patients in an epidemic keep a close watch. We keep a close watch that poisons are kept separate from food.

Are we keeping a close watch on our entertainment? On the so-called "news" we watch and listen to? On the words we use? The thoughts we think? The things we desire? 

Are we keeping a close watch on the Word of God?  Are we looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith? 

"As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to Yahweh our God, until He is gracious to us." (Psalm 123:2). 

We are called to keep a close watch on ourselves and our teaching not only for our own sake, but for the benefit of others. It is essential that we lay down our lives for others, that our lives be lived for Christ and others.

How are you keeping watch on yourself and your words, your thoughts, your teaching? 

There is no short-cut, and no long-term possibly of us keeping a watch on ourselves and our teaching without "immersing" ourselves in the Word of God and in our Lord Jesus Christ...and I think in the koinonia of the saints. 

Am I living an immersed life? 

What about you?