The definition of disown is refuse to acknowledge or maintain any connection with someone or something. However, what if you went through life without ever being told that a specific act, behavior or desire was inappropriate? This would make an individual amoral: lacking a moral sense or unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness. According to the apostle Paul, God’s law was designed to clarify right from wrong, Romans 7:11-13.
Whereas she who lives in pleasure and self-gratification [giving herself up to luxury and self-indulgence] is dead even while she [still] lives. 7 Charge [the people] thus, so that they may be without reproach and blameless, 1 Timothy 5:6-7.
Near the end of his first letter to a teenage pastor, the apostle Paul wanted to clarify personal responsibilities for all Christians. Based upon this extended section on widows, children with living parents were neglecting their duty to take care of family members who were no longer able to provide for themselves. Subsequently, local churches were taking up the slack until the cost became a heavy financial burden.
If anyone fails to provide for his relatives, and especially for those of his own family, he has disowned the faith [by failing to accompany it with fruits] and is worse than an unbeliever [who performs his obligation in these matters], 1 Timothy 5:8.
You don’t have to have living parents to disown your faith. Rather, you could be a father who neglects their children, a mother who lives a hypocritical life or an adolescent who tries to please everyone accept for God. When you consider the analogy that the apostle Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 12, the church is similar to a body with many parts. When you find an area that you excel in, serve the body of Christ so that you don’t disown your faith with periods of idleness.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 