Pursue These Things: 2 Timothy 1-2

2 Timothy 2:22 (ESV)

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

The word pursue in the above context means to follow after something without hostility.   Paul wants young Timothy to continue in the faith.  He wants Timothy to fully embrace following Christ.  But what does that look like?   Paul started this little letter with this statement to his young protégé:

2 Timothy 1:5-7 (ESV)

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.  

The way you fan the flame of your faith is to pursue with a passion what Paul has listed for Timothy.  He is to pursue after: 

1. Righteousness - what God has required of all mankind and richly supplied through the death of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21) 
2. Faith - by without no one can please the Lord (Hebrews 11:6)
3. Love - The summation of all of God’s commands (Matthew 22:37-38)
4. Peace - What God has supplied in the death of Christ to reconcile us to God (Romans 5:1-3)
5. Fellowship with other believers - which is our ultimate fellowship with God and His Son (1 John 1:7)

This is what Timothy is to do to demonstrate his growth in Christ.   The same is said for us.  We, too, are to purse what God has intended for us to purse.