1 Timothy 5:5-6 -- Are you the living dead?

To catch up on our adventure through 1 Timothy, click here and read from the bottom post up.

1 Timothy 5:5-6 (NIV):

"The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. [6] But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives."

The widow of this time who had no family to care for her needed help. There was no welfare state and there were no jobs for them to take. The widow in need really learned to trust God and to pray night and day.

It fell to the church to take care of such a widow. And they apparently entered into some sort of agreement to serve the Lord and the local church. It was not a handout but an exchange.

Sometimes a gift with no strings attached is a good thing. But many times it's better for the person to feel as if they're paying their own way, working for the money, even if the work seems nominal. It gives the receiver a sense of pride.

I think you can also take verse 5 in a whole other direction by generalizing and applying to everyone: The person who is really in need and left all alone puts his/her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.

I've certainly been there myself--at the end of my rope. At the end of the road. At the end of myself.

It's never a pretty picture. But if hard times drive me closer to God and help me trust Him more, then ultimately hard times are worth it.

Verse 6 is interesting: "But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives." Some commentators suggest the pleasure talked about is sexual (implied from verse 11). But the original Greek word is used only one other time in the Bible--in James 5:5. In James 5:1-6, James seems to be talking more about accumulating money and possessions--"luxury and self-indulgence"--than about sexual pleasure.

Maybe the point of 1 Timothy 5:5-6 is this: You can live for God and grow closer to Him, learning to trust Him and serve Him, or you can live for yourself and for the money and things you can accumulate. One way brings life, the other death.

I wonder how this applies to us today in our race to build wealth to ourselves, retire, and live the good life? I know there are many elderly people just barely getting by financially. But if more of the ones who were better off gave more to the church and served the Lord and the church and helped take care of widows...how different would things be? Just a thought...

What are you doing to help those in need? Not a handout but a hand up? All the money and possessions the Lord has helped you obtain--is it just for you or is it also for you to bless others with?