Friday, January 31, 2025
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:2-8
Passing The Baton
Paul had lived an incredible life. It started off not so good as he persecuted and killed Christians. But then God met him on a dirt road one night and he was instantly changed forevermore. He knew and understood exactly who God was and he instantly began to preach the gospel and tell people about how God had changed his life and could change theirs. After all, if God would save – and use – a man like Paul, he would do it for anyone.
But now Paul was coming to the end of his life, and he knew it. He wrote two letters to Timothy, who he discipled and mentored, and called his “true son in the faith.” He went with Paul on of his later missionary journeys and was believed to have been with Paul when he wrote some of the New Testament Letters.
In his second letter to Timothy, Paul warned Timothy about false teachers and encourages him to carry on in the things he has learned. The truths Timothy was taught from birth by his mother and grandmother — truths about sin and our need for a Savior—had given him wisdom for salvation… and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:15
As parents, we teach our children to discern truth from falsehood. We need to give them wisdom for salvationthe way Timothy’s mother and grandmother did. As followers of Christ we should stand firm in the truth we have learned, not being influenced by opposition and false teachers. Paul wanted Timothy to stand firm in his own faith and to lead the other believers well, especially since he knew he was dying. He was passing the baton, leaving it with Timothy to carry on what they had done together and what Paul had taught him. And it was an urgent message. Knowing the end is near and reflecting on his life, devoting his life after he was saved to sharing the gospel and establishing churches.
Paul knew what was coming on the other side of life. He lived a surrendered life as a follower of Jesus so he could say those words above. He knew he could pass it on to someone he believed would continue to do the same thing.
Back to our passage from Sunday - Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Do the things to make sure your children/grandchildren know who God is, what he has done, and make sure they know the Gospel and how to share it. Don’t leave it to the church. You disciple your children. Make it a part of life every day. It is much too important to assume someone else is taking care of it.
