Daily Bread 2 Timothy 1
Encouragement to Be Faithful
3I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
Observation:
In his second letter to his protégé “Timothy”, Paul encourages him to be faithful to the calling he has received and to fan into flames the gift of God, which he received through the laying on of hands. Apparently Timothy’s mother and grandmother successfully passed on the faith to their son/grandson. My first question is: what about his dad/granddad?
Maybe this is why Paul calls him his “dear son”. Paul and Timothy model the father/son relationship that was apparently absent with his natural dad/granddad. Apparently Paul had a few other friends he invested in that had deserted him, and so he is fond of his dear friend Timothy who has not abandoned him and was very sad when they had parted ways.
Paul reminds Timothy of his true calling and the deposit of the Holy Spirit who would help him and be the means for carrying out what God had called him to do. Paul also reminds him of the pattern of sound teaching that he had passed on, and encourages them to be faithful and loving through gift of Jesus Christ.
Application:
Who are the people in your life that you could thank for passing on the faith to you? Was it your parents/grandparents, or someone else who shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with? On this weekend of Thanksgiving take some time to thank them for sharing this indescribable gift with you.
Do you know what your calling is? What has God set you apart to do? There is a great need for those who are unashamed of the gospel and willing do whatever it would take to pass it on to the next generation. The Christian faith is always one generation away from extinction. As the faith has been passed on to you, part of the process of discipleship is then passing it on or mentoring someone else. Ideally women would mentor women, and men would mentor men.
I think one of the next great moves of God is men in the church waking up to their calling of mentoring other young men. We all see what is going on in society, and yet we can make a difference one young person at a time. As a pastor I believe this is my highest calling to help this next generation come to faith with the help of my generation and the one above me providing wisdom, modeling and sharing of our faith. Pray about how God might call you to be part of this!
Prayer: God we thank you that someone took the time to invest in our faith like Paul did with Timothy. Help us to continue that process by mentoring someone else in the faith. May our ministries be filled with these transformational relationships. Holy Spirit come and guard the deposit that was given to us and may we keep the sound pattern of teaching that the bible entrusts to us! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
3I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
Observation:
In his second letter to his protégé “Timothy”, Paul encourages him to be faithful to the calling he has received and to fan into flames the gift of God, which he received through the laying on of hands. Apparently Timothy’s mother and grandmother successfully passed on the faith to their son/grandson. My first question is: what about his dad/granddad?
Maybe this is why Paul calls him his “dear son”. Paul and Timothy model the father/son relationship that was apparently absent with his natural dad/granddad. Apparently Paul had a few other friends he invested in that had deserted him, and so he is fond of his dear friend Timothy who has not abandoned him and was very sad when they had parted ways.
Paul reminds Timothy of his true calling and the deposit of the Holy Spirit who would help him and be the means for carrying out what God had called him to do. Paul also reminds him of the pattern of sound teaching that he had passed on, and encourages them to be faithful and loving through gift of Jesus Christ.
Application:
Who are the people in your life that you could thank for passing on the faith to you? Was it your parents/grandparents, or someone else who shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with? On this weekend of Thanksgiving take some time to thank them for sharing this indescribable gift with you.
Do you know what your calling is? What has God set you apart to do? There is a great need for those who are unashamed of the gospel and willing do whatever it would take to pass it on to the next generation. The Christian faith is always one generation away from extinction. As the faith has been passed on to you, part of the process of discipleship is then passing it on or mentoring someone else. Ideally women would mentor women, and men would mentor men.
I think one of the next great moves of God is men in the church waking up to their calling of mentoring other young men. We all see what is going on in society, and yet we can make a difference one young person at a time. As a pastor I believe this is my highest calling to help this next generation come to faith with the help of my generation and the one above me providing wisdom, modeling and sharing of our faith. Pray about how God might call you to be part of this!
Prayer: God we thank you that someone took the time to invest in our faith like Paul did with Timothy. Help us to continue that process by mentoring someone else in the faith. May our ministries be filled with these transformational relationships. Holy Spirit come and guard the deposit that was given to us and may we keep the sound pattern of teaching that the bible entrusts to us! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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