I dedicate this website to the memory of my dear mother Doris Harmon, seen here in one of her high school pictures.  I expect to see her again.

 AND

To my sweet wife Gloria who is a great source of joy to me every day.

II Timothy 

 

II Timothy 1: 9 "According to his own purpose..."



Today, in this chapter, we get an excellent reminder of the comforting fact that, in the plan and purpose of God, we believers became recipients of His grace in Christ Jesus "before the world began" (v. 9). This agrees with what Paul taught in Ephesians 1:4. If you are not familiar with this verse I urge you to take time to refer back to it and make the comparison. While you are at it, take a further moment and check out Ephesians 3:11. Here is where the apostle speaks about God's eternal purpose.

It was in keeping with this purpose that our God made the promise to us of life in Christ Jesus. Do not pass too rapidly over such a glorious truth which is expanded upon in verse ten. Put this statement of life in Christ together with what John says in his first epistle 5:11-13. God's life is resident in His Son and when His Son is resident in us, we then share His life. If we do not have Him, we do not have eternal life! We are saved only when Christ resides in our being, in this house of clay (2 Cor. 4:7), only when God's Holy Spirit has moved permanently into our bodies, making them each His temple. Only then can we confidently say that we have been "born again." To these verses we would add John 1:12 with our underlining and bracketed explanation. "But to as many as received Him to them gave He power (authority, right, privilege) to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name."

Finally, may we bask in the further comforting fact that for us who have believed, He says that death has been abolished. Hallelujah!













II Timothy 2:15 Shame



It is a bit difficult to draw from these pastoral epistles thoughts that will be helpful to a more general audience. For example, the exhortation in verse two is directed specifically to one who is in the business of training men in the local church. In the fourth verse the warring soldier is primarily the one who is engaged full time in a ministry and therefore should not be entangled with enterprise of a more secular nature. The affairs of life refer to thing like business transactions that would tie up his time and energy and thus deter him from his spiritual duties.

But when we come to verse fifteen, though again this might more particularly apply to a full time Christian "workman" there is, nevertheless an application to all believers to be made here. The word study is also translated labor (Heb.3:11) and certainly every believer should be instructed to spend quality time working hard at studying the Scripture that he not be ashamed before the Lord to have to confess that in x number of years all he has done is read a short passage of the Bible daily as found in a daily devotional and read a nice story illustrating it. As they say, that doesn't quite cut it!

One of the things I shall never cease to be thankful for is the fact that the Lord put me into the ministry where I had to study the Word and I love it, but I sympathize with those who have not had that responsibility. Yet, as a faithful servant of the Lord I must say, you are making a big mistake if you, as a lay person, are spending hours in front of the TV or indulging in some other sport or recreation and are neglecting serious study of the Scripture. Don't forget the Judgement seat of Christ and the shame of this failure.













II Timothy 3:15 Influences of Youth



What is it that makes the difference between a man who has a genuine interest and concern for others, and one who only really loves himself? Paul said of Timothy when writing to the church at Philippi that his son in the faith was one of whom it could be said, "he naturally cares of you"(Phil.2:20). I do not know where we are in relation to the "last days" that the apostle spoke about but I tend to think that he felt they were already upon him for he described them so accurately and if they had already begun in his day, how much advanced have they become from then til now? Of course it matters greatly of what time and culture we are from as to how advanced these "perilous times" will be true in our experience. To be sure, the founders of America were pioneering a nation that for generations would not be generally characterized by the conditions here listed by Paul, but what about conditions at that very same time that existed in the heart of Africa where witchcraft and spiritism abounded? Again, what made the difference?

The answer, of course, comes at the close of our present chapter. Timothy was privileged to have a mother and a grandmother who taught him the Scriptures. All they had was what we call the Old Testament but it was sufficient to accomplish an early training in a young lad that profoundly affected his life for God. As his "own son in the faith" (1Tim.1:2) Paul had found him to be ripe for the harvest through these maternal influences. This is indicative of where too those will be found who will be able to provide a witness to the "unthankful" and "proud" of our day and time who as "disobedient to parents" and "lovers of pleasure" seem to grow worse and worse.













II Timothy 4:6 "I am now ready....."



In these epistles we have been witnessing the reins of leadership being passed by the apostle to the men of the younger generation. He reflects upon the times and upon the rapid approach of his "promotion." He thinks about the scattering of these men to the fields where God has been placing them; Crescens, Titus, Tychicus, Carpus, Erastus, Trophimus, among others, have found strategic centers of service. Unfortunately some names are mentioned here in this chapter that must have brought grief to him as he reflected sadly upon them. Demas, spoken of earlier in conjunction with the beloved physcian Luke (Col.4:14) will be of no use to the lost souls of Thessalonica. We might wonder how he would characterize us, as to our usefulness in our community, were we among his trainees.

We may not all be pastors as Timothy was in Ephesus, but certainly God expects every believer to be "in season" even when it may not be convenient. Remember the fig tree that our Lord cursed because it had no fruit on it. It was not the season for new figs (Mk.11:13), but unbelief had stripped the tree of last season's fruit which should have been left for the poor among whom, strange as it may seem, our Lord then stood in need. ( The fig tree represented Israel whose people, for the most part, had long forsaken those laws of kindness to the poor in their greed {Lev.19:10}).

Finally, we may carry away from this portion a wonderful text addressed to us. It is found at the end of verse eight. All of us should love His appearing and if we do we will certainly be less troubled by the thought of standing before our righteous Judge and more apt to be recipients of that crown that is, hopefully, laid up for us as well.

Or do we love this present world too much?