Journal

• • Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:
    • A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
    • A Guide to Self-Reflection
    • A Chart to help articulate feelings

Bible Text: 1 Timothy 3:1-7

¹ The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. ² Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³ not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. ⁴ He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, ⁵ for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷ Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

Reflection & Application

1 Timothy 3:1-4

• What is involved in being an overseer?  What aspects of life does the list cover?  
• In what ways am I seeking status over responsibility?

1 Timothy 3:6-7

• An overseer is equivalent to a pastor or an elder.   What are some reasons a recent convert might become conceited if he were appointed an overseer?
• How does this passage warn against compartmentalization of one’s faith?  List examples of compartmentalization of faith that result in “falling into the condemnation of the devil.”

Prayer