Read with Me
2 Timothy 1:8-12 (HCSB)
So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me His prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God.
He has saved us and called us
with a holy calling,
not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace,
which was given to us in Christ Jesus
before time began.
This has now been made evident
through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus,
who has abolished death
and has brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel.
For this gospel I was appointed a herald, apostle, and teacher, and that is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.
Listen with Me
In all Paul’s encouragement toward Timothy, it would be very easy to forget that he himself was stuck at that moment. Even though he had been in prison more than once over the course of his ministry, this was the first time that he had been under an absolute death sentence. He knew that unless God acted, he would soon be executed. And he knew that God was not going to act. His part in God’s plan was drawing to a close.
But Paul didn’t want that fact to discourage Timothy or to fill him with shame, as if God’s unwillingness to deliver Paul this time showed any weakening of his faith. Instead, even then Paul’s sole focus was on continuing the work of growing God’s kingdom until he took his final breath.
Paul saw himself not as a victim, but as an ambassador of God’s kingdom, a messenger in chains bringing news of God’s grace that He was now making available to the whole world through faith in Jesus. And he knew that, as a partaker and participant in that grace himself, he was also in possession of eternal life, a life he had begun to live in many years earlier, and that would cleanly transition to life in God’s presence soon.
Paul understood that it was his saying yes to Jesus all those years earlier that had led him to the place he was now. If he had stayed home, if he had stayed quiet, he would have saved himself much suffering and much privation. But he was not regretting a single moment of all he had done or of all he had gone through. He thoroughly understood that everything he had done he had not done for himself, but for the Kingdom of heaven. And he was assured that he had thus amassed a sizable treasure waiting for him in God’s presence, a treasure that was being held in trust by Jesus Himself until the moment he arrived safely.
Pray with Me
Father, I know that many people end their lives with a lot of regrets. But if Paul had any regrets at all, none of them concerned his work for Your kingdom. Paul always played full-out for You, and he was still working even while in jail. When he finally arrived at the foot of Your throne, he was confident that he would hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!” (Matthew 25:21, 23). Lord, help me to live my own life in the same way, with the same passion and the same steadfastness of purpose. Amen.