By: Dale Weckbacher
2 Timothy 1:8
Therefore do not
be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,
(ESV)
There seems to be an increased interest in our society for
the paranormal. I say this because there
are numerous programs dominating media dealing with the subject. In many of these programs they speak of
someone going to the light after their death, which is theologically incorrect
according to scripture which tells us that when we die, we immediately meet the
Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
For those of us that have decided to make Jesus Lord of our
lives by accepting His free gift of salvation, this meeting is something we
look forward to. However, for those that
are still separated from God by their sins, the prospect of meeting the Lord is
not something to look forward to. I
therefore urge anyone not looking forward to meeting the Lord, to take a moment
now and accept Jesus as your savior by praying with me,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned
(Romans 3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse
me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9).
I believe you died, was buried, and resurrected from the dead and now
declare you Lord of my life.
If you just prayed with me, you no longer need to fear
meeting God and instead of having to go to the light upon your death, you have
the light of the world, Jesus Christ living in you (John 8:12). I want to encourage you not to hide the light
now living within you by being silent about your decision to accept Jesus as
your savior but to instead heed the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:16 and let that
light shine so others will see the change in your life and want to accept Jesus
as their savior too. As a way of
assisting you in this, you can take people to the link for needanswers.com
where they can find out how to make Jesus their Lord.
For those of you reading this who have been followers of
Jesus for many years, I urge you to fan the flame of the gift of God that was
given to you when we accepted Jesus as your savior (2 Timothy 1:6). Granted the context of 2 Timothy 1:6 is for
Timothy urging him to fan the Flame of the gift of ministry imparted to him by
the laying on of hands but I believe it also applies to all believers who
received the light of the world into their lives when they made Jesus their
savior.
One of the negatives of living in the information age where
we have information at our fingertips is that we cannot hide from the darkness
in our world. While it is beneficial to
have easy access to breaking news, the constant barrage of news alerts, twitter
alerts, and Facebook alerts can place a cover over the light of Jesus Christ
that shines from all who have accepted Jesus as their savior. This is why it is imperative for us to spend
time each day in prayer and the Bible, and turn off the barrage of alerts on
our phones, so the light in us is allowed to shine brightly.
Paul’s words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:3-18 are a reminder
to Timothy to,
1)
Remember the heritage of faith he has (2 Timothy1:3-7) – For Timothy, this heritage was passed down to him through his
grandmother and mother. Having been
someone raised in a Christian home, I must admit that it is often easy to take
my godly heritage for granted. If you
too were raised in a godly home, I urge you to thank God for that godly
heritage and pledge to continue that heritage by passing it down to your
children and also sharing your faith with others living without hope in this
dark world. However, if you were not
raised in a godly home there is no need to feel left out for as Hebrews 12:1
reminds us, we are all part of generations of great men and women of God
(Hebrews 11) who have made it possible for us to have Jesus as our savior and
the Word of God.
2)
Do not be ashamed of the Lord (2 Timothy 1:8-14)
– Paul is writing his letter to Timothy while in prison for his testimony. Not only is Paul in prison, but he is about
to be martyred for his faith. To escape
this death sentence, all Paul would have had to do is renounce his faith and go
back to making tents. However, Paul was
not ashamed of the Lord and even when facing death, urged his student Timothy
to share in his commitment to serving the Lord.
It is easy for us to hold back in declaring our faith in our dark world
in order to preserve friendships or even save our lives as occurs in many parts
of the world today. However, we must
remember that Jesus died publicly on a cross for our sins so why would I be ashamed
to share the gift of salvation freely given to me through Jesus’ public death.
3)
Not fall away from our faith out of fear (2 Timothy 1:15-18) – When we accepted Jesus as our savior, the Holy Spirit took
up residence in our hearts. This Spirt is not a spirit of fear, but of power,
love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). However, fear is a powerful emotion that still
resides in our fleshly bodies and can take over causing us to hold back or even
turn away from our faith. This is what
occurred when Phygelus and Hermogenes turned away from Paul because of his
imprisonment, perhaps out of fear of facing death for their faith. Instead let us be like Onesiphorus who
ministered to Paul in spite of his chains and pending death for his faith.
We have all received a great gift from God when we accepted
Jesus as our savior. Whether we received
this gift due to a familial godly heritage or received it through someone
sharing the Gospel with us that was passed down through centuries of godly men,
we have received the greatest gift any person can receive. Let us therefore not hold back in allowing the
light of the Gospel to shine forth from our lives in the way we live and speak
for a dark and dying world needs to see that light in their lives so they will
want to have that light live within them as well.
Next Wednesday, becoming a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment