2 Timothy 1.12 That
is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know
whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted
to him until that day. – St. Paul
Time for Paul was running out; he’d been in prison for
quite some time and now it seemed the hour glass was running dangerously low on
sand. But ever the encourager, ever-vigilant for the Cause, Paul wrote his second
letter to Timothy, whom I suspect, was in what we in the sales biz might call:
the Sophomore Season.
Timothy had been at it for a while, and though I feel
Paul loved and trusted him, I also think there may be a time in everyone’s life
when the honeymoon is over, and the weight of the world gets pretty heavy. I’m
thinking that’s why (or at least part of the reason) for this second letter. To
me the tone is different and the context is: you’ve made some progress, but you’re
still early in this thing, beware of these pitfalls.
One of the pitfalls in ministry may be: what got you to here, won’t get you to there.
We keep trying to do the same things over and over, and because they once yielded
results, we keep doing them. But people, attitudes, perspectives, and focus
change. (We come into this world with bowel movements being a priority, and we
leave it the same way…) We need to adapt accordingly. The mission of the Church
never changes, but how we go about it is fluid, and ever-changing because
people are different, times are different, and one size does not fit all: I don’t care what the tag
says.
So, Paul tells Timothy, “That is why I am suffering as I
am.” Things had changed for Paul and were about to change even more. And
Paul was telling Timothy in short: “Things
are going to change for you too!” But there was no cause for shame (mistakes happen and changes come) for the bottom line is this:
I know Whom (Jesus) I have believed, and am convinced (to my very core) that He
is able to guard (protect and defend) what I have entrusted to Him… until that
day.
Ever think about what you’ve entrusted to Jesus? The song
says: “Lord I give You my heart; I give
You my soul. I live for You alone. Every step that I make; every moment I’m
awake, Lord have Your way in me…” That is something worth entrusting to
Jesus. Even in the Sophomore Season when things aren’t as rosy as perhaps they
once were. The grind seems to be unending and the pace has slowed considerably.
Paul entrusted his very life to Jesus and at the end of
his ministry, he was reduced to prison life and writing letters. I’m sure he
taught in prison, but he audience was captive and many were probably killed for
their crimes, or died because of not enough food and too much labor; or because
of disease and other health issues. I know Whom I have believed and am
convinced that HE is able to get me through the Sophomore Season and beyond
when the grind of life increases.
Father, thank You
for the gift of entrustment. Thank You, that no matter what is going on, we can
remember in Whom we’ve believed, and that our belief, our heart, our ministry and
all else are Yours until that Day when those things will be remembered as what
got us here: in Your presence forever. Amen
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