BibleTexts for Men [part 11]

1 Timothy 3:2-7

" [An Elder] then must be blameless, the husband of one wife,
-temperate,
-sober-minded,
-of good behavior,
-hospitable,
-able to teach;
-not given to wine,
-not violent,
-not greedy for money,
-but gentle,
-not quarrelsome,
-not covetous;
-one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);
-not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
-Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."

These are the Biblical Qualifications of a Church Elder or Minister. I've included these in Bible texts for men because I am fully persuaded that these are aspects that every man ought to and must strive for in their lives as they follow Jesus and try to live as Christian Men.
Every man is called to implement these within his own life in some sense or another.
My advice is that each of us, prayerfully go through each of these and write how we would assess ourselves in each one, then email it to a trusted friend or perhaps your wife and ask for that persons honest, perhaps (loving) critical assessment of us according to these.

For further meditation or explaination of these you may find this article on ACTS29 useful