2 Timothy 4

Bible Passage:  2 Timothy 4

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Finally, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing…

– 2 Timothy 4: 6-8

These were (or are) the well known words of Paul in his second epistle to Timothy. He knew that his death was nigh, and in terms of actually doing stuff, there was little left that he could have done.

But although he knew that his time was almost up, he still had this great confidence within himself. And this confidence was the result of, as biblereader had mentioned yesterday, his ability to focus on what he had to do and his perseverance against all opposition. And let’s not forget that he had the fear of God too.

He had fought a good fight, though it was had fought, and had emerged victorious. He had run this long race of faith, and had successfully crossed the finish line. And there, the grand prize was waiting for him, because he had not let go of his faith.

I really admire Paul for this confidence of his. This was the confidence that he had obediently kept the commandments and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ up to the point of his eventual passing.

How many of us can actually stare at impending death in the face, and declare that he had done what the Lord had told him or rather, told us what to do? I don’t know about you, but I personally can’t at this stage, because I don’t think I’ve been able to accomplish so far what Paul had done…

While a number of Paul’s co-workers had left him and probably left the work, Paul was still able to carry on and not be affected by them. On top of that, he even did not charge anything against them, even though they had forsaken him.

If we see our own fellow brethren and co-workers falling away, how would we be affected? Would we find ourselves still standing strong in the faith, or would we be following in their footsteps?

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers…

– 2 Timothy 4: 2-3

When it came to doing the divine work for Christ, particularly in the work of evangelism, Paul was someone who was ready 24/7. He wasn’t doing stuff as and when he felt like it. But he instructed us that we should be ready at all times.

For example, in the work of evangelism, we shouldn’t just do it prior to an evangelistic meeting. The mood and motive shouldn’t just arise because of such an upcoming event.

But we should seek and strive to preach to others at any possible time throughout the year. It could be planned like thinking of how to preach to a friend or relative. Or it could be impromptu like preaching to a stranger at a bus stop, in the MRT, at a wedding dinner or even while being stuck in a lift. Indeed, we have to “be ready in season or out of season”.

In addition, we have to do the work not expecting that we would have smooth sailing and great, happy times. There will be difficulties, and we would need to have longsuffering, which also happens to be one of the fruit of the Spirit.

And on top of that, we need to have the sense of urgency to do the work. Paul knew that there will come a time when it’ll be harder to preach to other people, so he had this sense of urgency, which brought about his mindset of being ready all the time. Likewise, we need to have this sense of urgency and be motivated to do the work for Christ as often as possible.

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ…

– 1 Corinthians 11: 1

Paul tells us that we should imitate him. Why? Because he had imitated Christ. And Paul was probably trying to tell us that because he could do that, we can actually do that too.

But why have we not been able to that?

That’s something we should think about, because I honestly don’t have the best answer to that, apart from the fact that we might not have putting in the best of efforts in this…

And if we referred back to the verses quoted at the beginning of this post, Paul said that this crown of righteousness was not only just meant for him, but for all those who love Him and keep His commandments and teachings.

Unless we all fulfill the will of God, not everyone who calls upon His name will be saved. So, we need to put in every effort in our life of faith, to obey what the Lord had instructed us to do in the Holy Scriptures.

May the Lord lead us on in our path of faith till the very end, and may we keep our end of the bargain to obediently follow Him and put our complete trust in Him, all the days of our lives, so that we may complete the race and emerge victors from the fight against the evil one…