Guard Your Deposit

I was reading my Bible recently and the phrase “guard the good deposit” leapt out at me from the verses below.

“What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.” 1 Timothy 1:13-14

I got to thinking how do we guard the deposit God has given us? I think all too often we allow the busyness of life to make withdrawals and we end up with lessened resources when we face a challenge or trial. The preparation for hard times happens in the good times. It’s training to run a marathon that makes you gets you across the finish line. It’s the hours of swimming laps that prepares you to outpace everyone in a race. So often we don’t do the preparation but we certainly cry out for the victory when we need it.

So how do we guard our deposit? We spend time in the Word, not out of duty or because we owe it to God but to know Him more, to grow our relationship. Consider it this way how would you react if today you met a new person and exchanged simple hellos or handshakes and suddenly tomorrow they showed up with a limo to whisk you away to get married? It would seem off kilter and out of balance. There is a normal progression to relationship that only comes from shared mutual time. It is the preparation that makes the relationship strong and lasting. Let’s guard our deposit so we ensure that when we need to make a withdrawal during challenging times we don’t find our account lacking the funds.