Timothy or you (or me)? 1 Timothy 4.

Listen to these instructions from this chapter (NET Bible translation).

v. 6 - By pointing out such things [all food is good if eaten in thanksgiving] to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus

v. 7 - reject those myths fit only for the godless and gullible, and train yourself for godliness.

v. 11 - Command and teach these things [what follows].

v. 12 - Let no one look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in your speech, conduct, love, faithfulness, and purity.

v. 13 - Until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

v. 14 - Do not neglect the spiritual gift you have, given to you and confirmed by prophetic words when the elders laid hands on you.

v. 15 - Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that everyone will see your progress.

v. 16a - Be conscientious about how you live and what you teach.

v. 16b - Persevere in this, because by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.

These are obviously personal instructions and commands given by Paul to Timothy. To what extent do they apply to you? Here's something else Paul wrote:

v. 8-10 - For “physical exercise has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.” This saying [the quote above] is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. In fact this is why we work hard and struggle, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of believers.

Paul says that the quoted saying is for everyone. Does that mean it holds more authority than for us than the other commands given in this chapter?

How do you decide to apply what you read in the Bible? Randomly? Based on what sounds good? Stick to the generalized commands? By extracting principles from the specifics (and how do you do that)? Do you have a consistent way of approaching Scripture so that when you read these instructions to Timothy you know what God intended for you to do with them?

Most of us are not fully consistent when it comes to applying what we read in the Bible to our lives. I'm not talking about whether we are able to apply it or not, or whether we do live consistent lives or not. I'm talking about whether we are consistent in how we interpret what we read, and consistent in determining what the application should be, whether we're able to live it out or not.

For example, in verse 16a we read "Be conscientious about how you live and what you teach." Is this your train of thought -- 'That sounds like good advice, so God must mean it for me.' How about this -- "So I want the men to pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without anger or dispute."? (1 Timothy 2:8). Is that command meant just for the men? Do you think this way -- 'We don't pray in our culture with hands lifted up, so I'll just worry about praying and the "without anger and dispute."'?

If we look at these two verses in context, the first one is instruction directed specifically and personally to Timothy and how Paul wants him to live. The latter verse (2:8) is also instruction for Timothy, but it is instruction that Timothy is to pass on to others, or to enforce within the church. On the surface, at least, that would sound like that latter instruction is more universal in its applicability than the specific instruction to Timothy, "be conscientious..."

And yet, I'll bet that most of us would tend to apply the specific instruction to Timothy more literally, than we would the general instruction for the church. Why is that? More importantly, in doing so, are there some consistent underlying principles that we do use or could use, to help us figure this out?

I've posed a lot of questions in this post. I'd love for some of you readers to answer some of them in the comments. I'll come back to this issue in 2 Timothy, and provide my own answers and comments.