Wednesday 29 January, 2014

1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus, just as God our Savior commanded. Christ Jesus also commanded it. We have put our hope in him. 2 Timothy, I am sending you this letter. You are my true son in the faith. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy and peace. 3 Stay there in Ephesus. That is what I told you to do when I went into Macedonia. I want you to command certain people not to teach things that aren’t true. 4 Command them not to spend their time on stories that aren’t completely true. They must not waste time on family histories that never end. Things like that cause people to argue instead of doing God’s work. His work is done by faith. 5 Love is the purpose of my command. Love comes from a pure heart. It comes from a good sense of what is right and wrong. It comes from faith that is honest and true. 6 Some have wandered away from those teachings. They would rather talk about things that have no meaning. 7 They want to be teachers of the law. And they are very sure about that law. But they don’t know what they are talking about.

Paul looked at Timothy as a son and therefore as his spiritual father it was his duty to continually give advise and encouragement to strengthen Timothy’s faith and to affirm that he has authority to command folk not to teach false and misleading doctrines. This must be done with love and for Timothy to keep his life as a example.

Our lives must be the same and our talk must be true and a means of showing Christ to those we are in contact with, leading to them to Him.

Lord help me to love, live and speak only that which glorifies You. May my daily life be so effective that others will want what I have in my life.

Written by Joan Bennett