Our Believing Roots Always Bear Moral Fruit
LIFE CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM DOCTRINE
Does it really matter what you believe as long as you're a good person? According to the Bible, apart from believing what is true it's impossible to be a good person. While our culture today strives to separate beliefs and morality, the Bible won’t allow us to make this move. This is because religious beliefs don’t stay in our heads or hearts. They always make their way out through our hands, our mouths, and the way we live our lives. 1 Timothy 1:3-11 demonstrates the inevitable connection between what we worship, trust in, and believe to be true and the moral fruit that is borne in our lives. For this reason, Paul charges Timothy to put a stop to "certain persons" in the Ephesian Church who are teaching a "different doctrine.” Their roots are planted in error, they’re devoted to “myths,” all caught up in theological “speculations,” and their lives are marked by rotten fruit. On the other hand, those who have roots sunk deeply into "the gospel of the glory of the blessed God" will yield the fruit of "love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”