2 Timothy 1:1-18

Mentors are very important to the spiritual growth of every believer.  There are times in our lives where it is hard to find a mentor, but if we are truly interested in growing spiritually, we must be faithful to look for people who are willing to invest in our lives and help us become more like Christ.  Timothy was a very fortunate young man in that he had the Apostle Paul as his mentor.  We are also very fortunate in that the most important subjects in Paul’s discipleship of Timothy are recorded for us in this book and the book we just finished.  These are a few of the principles that Paul considered to be vital to Timothy and to us as well.
STIR UP YOUR GIFT: We all have two tendencies that I believe are very detrimental to our spiritual growth and our ministries.  The first is our tendency to forget the preciousness of our faith, the second is our tendency to become distracted from that which is of greatest importance to God.  Paul wanted Timothy to remember the heritage of faith that he had as well as remember the spiritual gifts that he had been given for the purpose of serving the body of Christ.  I think that it is interesting that Paul found it necessary to remind Timothy to “stir up” his gift.  It is easy for us to fall into the everyday ruts of life and become distracted from the priority of investing our lives in the lives of other people through our spiritual gifts.  That is why we need mentors to challenge us to grow in the use of our gifts as well as be faithful to minister with all that we have been given.  We must always keep in mind how wonderful it is that our sins our forgiven and must never be distracted from using all that God has given us to spread the Gospel and build up the body of Christ for the glory of God.
STAND UP IN SUFFERING: The myth that the Christian walk is an easy walk has caused more believers to become discouraged than almost any other lie that come from the lips of our enemy.  We tend to view pain as undesirable and we do almost anything that we can to avoid it.  God, on the other hand, knows that pain and suffering are a vital part of His plan to make us more like Christ.  Paul urges Timothy not to be discouraged or ashamed at the fact that Paul was suffering; rather he urges Timothy to stand fast in the face of persecution.  Our natural tendency is to run from the fires through which God desires to refine us.  Paul urges Timothy and us to embrace the flames of suffering with the joy of knowing that God is at work in our hearts to make us more like Christ.  We must never be surprised by suffering, discouraged by difficulties or be ashamed of those who are afflicted in the cause of Christ.  These problems and persecutions are instruments in the Fathers hands with which He lovingly chisels away from all of our lives anything that does not look like His Son in us.  With this perspective we should all look at suffering, open our hearts to the Father and say “Bring it on!”
SPEAK UP FOR CHRIST: It is not enough to simply live our lives in a moral manner without ever speaking up in defense of the Gospel.  Our actions are vital for our words to have authority, but our words are essential to the purpose that the Lord desires to accomplish through our lives.  We must freely and frequently speak the teachings of Scripture so that others might know and obey the truth.  It is not enough for us to simply suffer in silence, we must defend the truth.  Paul had seen many of his companions in the work become discouraged and abandon him in the work.  Paul urges Timothy to be different.  We need to be firm in our faith and boldly proclaim the truth of God’s Word so that all who are around us can hear how they too can be free from their sins which have trapped them.  We have the message that can free them and we must seek to set them free whether they want to hear it or not.  Our job is to testify to the truth, God’s job is to transform the hearts of men.  We are privileged to take part in this work that will last for all of eternity and we must never become distracted from it or discouraged in it.

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