2 Timothy 2:22-26

Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

Personal Challenge

Under the guidance of God, Paul gave Timothy some great instruction that is still valid today. First of all, to flee youthful lusts and desires and to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace out of a pure heart. These are truly signs of maturity and growth in a person unlike so many childish and vengeful behaviors that we are seeing today in our country and its leadership. Avoid foolish and ignorant disputes and quarrels. This does not mean that we stop fighting against injustice and lies. It just means that we do not get sucked into the pettiness of those who support that behavior. By being gentle to all, able to teach, patient, and humbly correcting the opposition, we can maintain our balance, our centeredness, and our integrity. We let God then convict the other that they might come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil that they are trapped in. If we truly want to win in our resistance to the opposition, we must maintain ourselves above their approaches.

Sirach 34:15-17

Blessed is the soul of a man who fears the Lord.
To whom does he look? And who is his support?
The eyes of the Lord are upon those who love Him.
He is a powerful protection and a strong support:
A shelter from the burning heat,
A shelter from the noonday sun,
A guard from stumbling,
And help from a fall.
He raises up the soul
And gives light to the eyes.
He gives healing, life, and blessing.

Encouraging Words

As a follower of Christ, I trust and respect my Lord. I believe in who He is and what He stands for. I am also saddened to see so much activity in the world today that is so contradictory to His teachings and yet proclaiming to be doing these activities in His name. Lord, have mercy. As I read through this passage, I am reminded how blessed I am because I do trust and respect Him. I know that He is always watching over me. He is my powerful and strong support, even in these crazy, hostile times. He is my shelter from the burning heat and the noonday sun. He guards my feet from stumbling and falling as long as I stay on His path. He lifts me up when I do veer and stumble. And He gives me light in the darkness, healing, life, and blessing. Glory be to God!

2 Timothy 2:14-17a

Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer.

Personal Challenge

If we are followers of Christ, then we have a responsibility to diligently represent Him in ways that will build Him and the Church up. We do this by doing His work His way! We rightly divide the word of truth, not with our interpretations, but the interpretations of the Church that has been vetted and affirmed for 2,000 years. This is how we shun profane and idle babblings that lead to heresies. We have a significant responsibility to glorify our God and not men. Lord have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Sirach 34:13-14

The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live,
For their hope is in Him who saves them.
He who fears the Lord will fear nothing,
And he will not be cowardly, for the Lord is his hope.

Encouraging Words

True followers of Christ fear their God. This is not a cowering, afraid of punishment type of response, for God is loving and merciful. This is a deep awe and respect type of response to our Lord’s immeasurable love for us. What flows from this is that our hope becomes anchored in our Lord. Through that hope we will fear nothing and never yield to those things, or people, that act counter to the love of our God. It is not enough to don the moniker of “Christian”. To be a follower of Christ, the fruit of our labor must be Christ-like. This means loving our neighbor, protecting the alien amongst us, caring for those in need, and being Christ’s example in all that we do and say, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

2 Timothy 2:11-13

This is a faithful saying:

For if we died with Him,
We shall also live with Him.
If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.

Encouraging Words

Our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is not about words or labels such as “Christian” that we apply to ourselves. It is about our hearts and the Christ-like actions that flow from our relationship with Him. We do not do our actions to garner favor from God, He gives it freely. Our actions flow from the love for God that Jesus and the Holy Spirit produce by dwelling within us. Because of this we are willing to die for Him for we know that we will live with Him. We live for Him because we know that through Him, we will endure with Him. He will always be faithful. Glory to God!

Job 40:2

“Will anyone pervert judgment with the Mighty One?
He who rebukes God will answer for it.”

Encouraging Words

Wow! Just wow! What a powerful statement God made here to Job. We have witnessed in our current events where people in high leadership positions are rebuking a clergy member, a Bishop, for calling upon them to show mercy and concern for the people under their watch. The message was sincerely out of the beatitudes and not an offensive challenge, but an honest and humble plea. And the results have been rebuke, reprisal, hatred, and even calls for deportion of an American citizen. If this behavior is not rebuking God, then I don’t know what is. Glory be to God!

Sirach 33:13

All His ways are according to His good pleasure.
Like clay in a potter’s hand,
Thus men are in the hand of Him who made them,
To render to them according to His judgment.

Encouraging Words

We are in the middle of a time where evil abounds and is embraced and defended by many. The encouraging aspect of this verse is that all men and women will someday be subject to our Lord’s judgement. He is the one that has told us about the judgment of the sheep and the goats at the end of time. (Matthew 25: 31-46) He is the final judge and sometimes His judgment is rendered in this age, but it will always be rendered. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy Lord, have mercy!

2 Timothy 2:3-4

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

Personal Challenge

At what point do the affairs of the world around us that are grievously impacting the innocents, the aliens amongst us, the widows, orphans, and infirm, begin to draw us into a battle against the things of the world. We are seeing the beginning of a shift in our country from the land of freedom and opportunity to a land run by, and for, only the grossly wealthy. There is total disregard for the command that Christ gave us to love and take care of these very people being impacted. Each of us must make the choice to demonstrate the love of Christ by resisting the direction that we, as a people, are going and fight the good fight that Christ has called us to fight. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Check this out as an enforcement of my thoughts: Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde

Sirach 32:23-24

In every work entrust your soul to the Lord,
For this is the keeping of the commandments.
He who believes in the Law heeds the commandments,
And he who trusts in the Lord will not suffer loss.

Personal Challenge

We live in a day where we are watching our great country be sold to oligarchs and criminals. It is a time for mourning as well as a time for action. We, the followers of Christ, must begin by recognizing and claiming that our true citizenship is not of this country or this world. Through Christ, we are citizens of heaven who have been blessed by Him to be His emissaries where we are. As His emissaries we have all His power and authority behind us to serve Him. This means that we must live our lives, where we are in ways that magnify and glorify Him. We do this by loving Him and loving our neighbor. We show our neighbor that we love them by standing up for them when injustices are perpetrated and striving to meet their needs, both physical and spiritual. We have the responsibility to protect the freedom and rights of those who cannot do that for themselves. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!