WHAT PAUL KNEW
2 Timothy 1:7-12 NKJ
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. 12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
The reason for this many verses in the devotional for today is that I wanted us to catch the continuation of thought. We often will take a single verse and focus on what it says, which in itself is just fine. But it’s good to pay attention to the context of the verse.
Verse seven is an example of verses in context. God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind. That verse can certainly stand alone as a testimony to the Holy Spirit and who He is in our lives. This is a verse I affirm often. But verse eight gives even further insight.
Because we have been empowered with God's Holy Spirit, we do not need to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord or the people associated with Him. We can tolerate the sufferings that come with being identified with Christ because we have the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of power, God's power. Paul was not referring to suffering with sickness or disease or mental torment. He was talking about the sufferings associated with being a follower of Jesus Christ. But we are not suffering in our own strength. We have God's power, the Holy Spirit, in us to help us and comfort us.
God has called us with a holy calling, not because we earned it. But it was God's purpose and grace for our lives that existed before time began. That is an amazing and mind-stretching thought and just another small glimpse into how big our God is.
It was Jesus who revealed God's grace to us. He abolished death, separation from God, and has brought the God kind of life that never ends and immortality to light through the gospel. Another spiritual truth that makes our minds go tilt. The word immortality is also translated imperishable. Through the good news of Jesus, we have access to a life that will never end and never decay or grow old or suffer the symptoms of death. Everything in the world around us is undergoing some kind of decay, but not us. Oh, our bodies are getting older, but our spirit, the part of our being that is eternal, is not getting older and weaker. Thank You, Lord.
Because of this good news, Paul said he was tasked with being a preacher, apostle, and teacher. His job was to carry this message of life and immortality to the Gentiles. And that was also the reason Paul had to suffer with some stuff. Paul's sufferings were the hardships and punishment that came his way because he was proclaiming the gospel of Christ to people who had no connection to God. As people converted to Christianity, it made the unbelievers mad and the unbelieving Jews even madder.
But Paul said he was not ashamed of what he suffered. He was not ashamed of Jesus or the good news about Him. The message in itself is outstanding, but there was a bigger reason for Paul's unabashed boldness. He knew in whom he believed. He did not simply know the message; he knew the one who authored the message. He knew whom he believed, and Paul was persuaded that this same Jesus would keep him until the day Jesus either came back or Paul went home. Paul didn't simply know the message. He knew the Lord.
APPLICATION
We strive to know the depths of the gospel of Christ and what that means to us today. But don't stop there. Strive to know the one in whom the message is all about—the one who died for us and rose again. And strive to know our heavenly Father, who called us by His purpose and grace before time began.
PRAYER
Jesus, You said that life was in knowing the Father and knowing You, His Son. To know You and the Father better is my prayer.