In all of this book Paul is encouraging Timothy, motivating Timothy, spurring Timothy on to do all that he ought to be doing for Jesus Christ. In verse 6 is his first admonition, “Do the best you can with what you’ve got, where you are for Jesus today.”
Open your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy. Underscore in your minds, and perhaps in your Bibles, 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 12, where Paul says, “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.”
I believe that Joseph Stalin said, “All I need to change a nation is one committed person i...
In the Presbyterian Journal, John Jeske said, “If the Christian church today is losing its influence, the reason may very well be that the church consists of soft pews, soft music, and soft soap.”
We must always avoid the temptation to so water down or weaken the message of Jesus Christ that...
A lot of spiritual burnout is going on nowadays. That word burnout is becoming more and more common. It describes the state of fatigue that comes on a person who has been pushing too hard in life. Usually it is experienced by a person who is idealistic, or a person who has an attitude of high achievement. T...
Mr. Duke, of the Duke & Ayres dime stores, was a dedicated Christian. He was at one time a farmer, and he and his wife saved $700 and bought a bunch of five- and 10-cent dolls and opened a store. He saw that store grow to a chain of 42 stores before he died. Because of his devotion to Christ and his commitment to Christia...
The apostle Paul is calling us to that hardness of life that is able to endure its difficulties and its hardships when he writes in the book of 2 Timothy 2:3, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Now that verse is the introduction to a clear call to a complete and wholehearte...
There is nothing in all of this world quite like old-fashioned dependability. The willingness just to hang in there, to stick in there when the going gets tough. That quality of life can make up for almost any other deficiency that a person may have. It can make up for the brightest and keenest of minds, for a lack of talent,...
Many years ago Billy Graham paid a visit to #10 Downing Street in London, England to visit with Winston Churchill. After they had visited a while Mr. Churchill said to Billy Graham, “Young man, do you have any hope for this world?” And Graham picked up his Bible and said to him, “Sir, this is a book of...
You heard about the lady who married four times. She married a banker, an actor, a preacher, and a mortician in that order. And they asked her why. She said, “I married one for the money, two for the show, three to make ready, and four to go.”
Once we buried a young lady who was only 21 years old. She was killed in a head-on collision while on her way to church. The night before the funeral, my daughter asked why God allows things like this to happen.
I wish I knew. Things like this have puzzled saints, wise men, and philosophers since the world began.
There is simply no one easy answer as to why tragedies like this happen. The answer may lie in the fact that God made us free. He created us with the ability to make our own choices, and choices always involve consequences. If we are careless or foolish in our choices, or if others are, we may suffer because of them. If God did not allow us freedom, we’d be less than people. We’d be robots.
This may be the only explanation we will ever have for some suffering. However, we do not have to know why things happen in order to be victorious over them. On the cross Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) But the heavens were as brass. God was silent. He didn’t even answer his own Son. Jesus might have despaired and become bitter against God. But instead he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend [entrust, hand over] my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
This kind of faith is far more important than any answer we might receive. In our lives, as in the life of Jesus, it is faith that makes the difference between victory and defeat.
So keep believing in God no matter what. Commit your life to him and regardless of what happens, God will help you.