God Speaks
From: Paul, a missionary of Jesus Christ, sent out by the direct command of God our Savior and by Jesus Christ our Lord—our only hope.
2 To: Timothy.
Timothy, you are like a son to me in the things of the Lord. May God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord show you his kindness and mercy and give you great peace of heart and mind.
3-4 As I said when I left for Macedonia, please stay there in Ephesus and try to stop the men who are teaching such wrong doctrine. Put an end to their myths and fables, and their idea of being saved by finding favor with an endless chain of angels leading up to God—wild ideas that stir up questions and arguments instead of helping people accept God’s plan of faith. 5 What I am eager for is that all the Christians there will be filled with love that comes from pure hearts, and that their minds will be clean and their faith strong.
6 But these teachers have missed this whole idea and spend their time arguing and talking foolishness. 7 They want to become famous as teachers of the laws of Moses when they haven’t the slightest idea what those laws really show us. 8 Those laws are good when used as God intended. 9 But they were not made for us, whom God has saved; they are for sinners who hate God, have rebellious hearts, curse and swear, attack their fathers and mothers, and murder. 10-11 Yes, these laws are made to identify as sinners all who are immoral and impure: homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, and all others who do things that contradict the glorious Good News of our blessed God, whose messenger I am.
12 How thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for choosing me as one of his messengers, and giving me the strength to be faithful to him, 13 even though I used to scoff at the name of Christ. I hunted down his people, harming them in every way I could. But God had mercy on me because I didn’t know what I was doing, for I didn’t know Christ at that time. 14 Oh, how kind our Lord was, for he showed me how to trust him and become full of the love of Christ Jesus.
15 How true it is, and how I long that everyone should know it, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I was the greatest of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as an example to show everyone how patient he is with even the worst sinners, so that others will realize that they, too, can have everlasting life. 17 Glory and honor to God forever and ever. He is the King of the ages, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God, and full of wisdom. Amen.
18 Now, Timothy, my son, here is my command to you: Fight well in the Lord’s battles, just as the Lord told us through his prophets that you would. 19 Cling tightly to your faith in Christ and always keep your conscience clear, doing what you know is right. For some people have disobeyed their consciences and have deliberately done what they knew was wrong. It isn’t surprising that soon they lost their faith in Christ after defying God like that. 20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples of this. I had to give them over to Satan to punish them until they could learn not to bring shame to the name of Christ.
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: This a letter from a seasoned apostle, Paul, to his son in the faith, Timothy. It is an excellent example of how those who are older in the faith and ministry should treat and instruct the next generation of Christian leaders. Paul was directing and teaching Timothy in how to deal with false teachers. These “teachers” proclaimed strange doctrines, myths, a need to search out one’s genealogy, and various speculations. They spoke confidently but really didn’t know what they were talking about. Paul went on to explain that the purpose of the law was to expose all kinds of evil. Paul and Timothy chose to live so as to reveal the good news of glory of God. Paul said that God was using him as an example of how bad a sinner God could save by His grace. Paul told Timothy to fight well in the Lord’s battles, cling to faith in Christ, keep his conscience clear, and do what he knew was right. Others had not done so and had incurred Paul’s severe actions.
Prayer: Dear Father God who trains His servants well, thank You for the example of Christian intergenerational relations set by Paul and Timothy. Father God and my Lord Jesus Christ, please spread Your grace, mercy, and peace over those You are directing me to pray for at this time. Please give older Christian leaders wisdom as they direct younger leaders. Please help them to both recognize and properly deal with false teachers. Please give these leaders, their “flocks,” and me pure hearts, good consciences, and sincere faith. May we be faithful to proclaim the pure gospel entrusted to us by You. May what Christian leaders teach be trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. Namely, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–with each person recognizing how sinful they really are and turning to Him alone to receive everlasting life. “Glory and honor to [You] forever and ever. [You are] the King of the ages, the unseen one who never dies; [You] alone [are] God, and full of wisdom. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17 TLB) Please help me and my fellow believers to fight well in the Lord’s battles, cling to faith in Christ, keep our consciences clear, and do what we know is right. Don’t let us defy You and fall into the traps Satan has set for us. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will be on the lookout for a younger person I can mentor like Paul with Timothy.
- I will be on the lookout for an older person who will mentor me like Timothy followed Paul.
- I will praise God for saving me, sinner that I am.
- I will watch out for false teachers and those who have defied God, then do as God directs.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.