Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

September 17, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: I TIMOTHY 5

13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

Paul is discussing here individuals in the church, specifically younger women who have been widowed and have taken advantage of the help and kindness from people. Difficult circumstances in our life often do not make us who we are, they simply bring out in us what was already there. Paul gives warning about individuals that behave as described here in this verse. May each of us determine that this will not be us.

“THEY LEARN TO BE IDLE”
This insinuates that they may not have always been lazy but have learned to be. Unfortunately, sometimes when individuals are given support or help, they can abuse that. I encourage parents to be careful about doing too much for your children. We love our children and should be there to help our children, but we should not parent in a way that enables them “to learn to be idle”.

“WANDERING…FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE”
Each of us should so discipline ourselves in our own lives that we would not have time to stick our noses into everyone else’s life. Here is a person that should’ve been working in their own house, but they were too busy going into everyone else’s. Always stay away from someone who seems to know what’s going on in everyone else’s life. This is one thing that can be dangerous about social media. It basically gives us a view into everyone else’s house, and we are told here that that is not wise.

“TATTLERS ALSO”
People like this cannot be trusted. They go from house to house to get all the juicy details, and then they spread it about like fertilizer, allowing tension and strife to grow like wildfire. If you ever meet someone that tells you someone else’s secret, make sure you do not tell them one of your own.

“AND BUSYBODIES”
Isn’t this interesting. In this verse we are told that these kinds of individuals learn to be idle, and yet at the same time become “busybodies”. It takes a lot of energy to be a busy body. If only individuals like this would use the energy they spend getting into other peoples business, and use it to actually take care of their own business.

“SPEAKING THINGS WHICH THEY OUGHT NOT”
People like this can cause a lot of problems, especially in a family, in a marriage, and in a church. Stay away from them, and do not become one of them.