Prayer for Youth - Living Proof - Living Out Doctrine

I Tim 4:16
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

The idea here is to be living proof... to be a witness.... and that idea of living proof is somehow tied up with the ideas of "doctrine" and "doing".

The first idea - being a witness (or even BETTER an icon, idol, role model, etc) are VERY popular in Christian circles today. Christians today are definitely very interested in being noticed, admired, sought after, recognized, etc. But the other two ideas - "doctrine" and "doing" - now those are VERY unpopular words and concepts in Christian circles today...

LIVING PROOF - living out doctrine... Paul is saying to apply the teachings of the Bible to ourselves. Do we really read Scripture with a mind to LIVE IT? Or do we approach it more like a little benign reading assignment..."ho hum - boring historical junk - totally outdated and not useful to me at all"

Worse yet, do we approach the Scripture with the intention of retro-fitting it to our lifestyle? "Let's see - here's the way I want to live; hmmmm. What can I find in the Bible that defends my decision?"

Are we applying the Bible to our lives so that it will transform us?
or are we "transforming" it?
Is our motive to conform to the Bible?
or to make the Bible to conform to us?

Other books were given for information, but the Bible was given for our transformation. This transformation will only begin when we make application of the Scriptures. It's not enough to receive the Word of God; we must also live it out.

Want to be living proof? Then don't just "know about" doctrine - live it.