February 14, 2023

2 Timothy 3:10-17 (HCSB)
Struggles in the Christian Life
10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, 11 along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 12 In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Nathan Putty
After Paul’s warning to Timothy, he gives him a bit of a pick me up. Some words of encouragement for doing good works and staying true to the Word. Now, of course as the saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished,” and Paul lets Timothy know its going to be a bumpy road for us Christians. I found myself being grateful to live in a country where I’m not persecuted in the way Paul was. Sure, we Christians get called names now and again or get dismissed as delusional. But our lives are not in danger because of our faith–at least not yet. When Paul brings up imposters deceiving and being deceived it hit hard. Sound familiar? People lying to themselves, convincing themselves of things that couldn’t be further from the truth. How many genders are there? When does life begin? How do we define marriage? To me, Paul takes on the role of a coach in the last couple of verses. He tells his player, Timothy, that he’s ready to step up to the plate and do what he’s trained to do. Stick with the fundamentals, Timothy. Scripture. Go team Jesus!