Read with Me
2 Timothy 1:3-7
I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, when I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day. Remembering your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy, clearly recalling your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is in you also.
Therefore, I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.
Listen with Me
Paul was sitting in a Roman dungeon. He had not been willing to compromise or renounce his faith. He had not been willing to acknowledge Nero as above the God he served or the Lord who had saved him. Therefore, he was now simply waiting until the order for his execution arrived.
As he waited, he had lots of time to ponder his life, his mission, and his relationships. And his mind kept being drawn back to Timothy.
Paul had first met Timothy in the Galatian city of Lystra (Acts 16:1), whose citizens had first mistaken him and Barnabas for gods, and then had stoned him as a heretic (Acts 14:8-20). Timothy’s mother Eunice was Jewish, but his father was a Greek.
Paul’s heart was drawn to Timothy, and he took him on as a protégé, ensuring that he was first circumcised so as to not cause offense among the Jews they would first try to reach with the gospel. He then laid his hands on Timothy to instill in him the Holy Spirit, and to commission him for the work ahead.
Timothy had evidenced a strong faith in Jesus, and had proven himself brave and steadfast, even in the face of persecution, opposition, and riots. He had always been a hard worker, and Paul knew that the future of the kingdom could be confidently left in the hands of people like him. So, he could face whatever the future held without concern.
Paul closes this paragraph with a reminder to not hold back, and to not be fearful of the future. The reason was not simply the importance of the work that still lay ahead. It was the fact that the Holy Spirit that had been poured into the lives and hearts of believers in Jesus was not a Spirit that moved people to act timidly. He was instead the very essence of divine power to break down spiritual strongholds, the wellspring of agape love that brought life and light to those who were languishing in the dark prisons of sin and death, and He was the only true source of sound judgment and self-discipline, enabling every follower of Jesus to live a genuinely holy life.
Pray with Me
Father, it is kind of stunning to me to contemplate the difference between the muscular Christianity demonstrated in those first generations of the Church, and the weak, wandering, compromising faith that goes by the same name today. The first and second generations stared down tribunals, kings, and even the emperor himself. They never compromised, even at the cost of torture and death. They didn’t just look for opportunities to “share the gospel”, but they lived in the power of Your Holy Spirit, and they made opportunities every day. They didn’t hope for visitors to come to their worship service so that they could be persuaded to become a member of their congregation. Instead, they strode into the dark places with the light of Jesus, and they set prisoners free. Lord come from time to time You have revived Your people and have blown on their smoldering hearts causing Your truth and kingdom power to blaze up again. We need that today! Send the divine wind of Your Holy Spirit through your Church today, so that we can recapture that powerful, muscular, effective faith that can literally change our people, our nation, and our whole world. Amen.