Learning from widows...

"She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives." (1 Timothy 5:5-7)

Two kinds: worthless or useful

Situation the same: left all alone

Character: set her hope on God vs. self indulgent

Self-indulgence makes everything about me: how I feel, what I want, what I think I need, how this situation is affecting ME. This thinking leads to acting and living in a way that does not profit. You are a dead woman walking.

God-indulgence makes everything about God. Hope is set on God. Not the future, not on someone or something, but God. It puts you in a position to be dependent on the Lord, needy from the Lord. Always seeking the Lord with prayers and supplications, night and day.

Seeking to be less like the self-indulgent widow, and more like the God-indulgent. I daily need to be rescued from myself.