Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. Proverbs 1: 8, 9, NIV
Heavenly Parent, for two days our hearts have been broken as we contemplated the sadness that resulted from wrong decisions. Please make it clear to us that there is no way better than Your way. For Christ’s sake. Amen
I am sure that many shed tears for Dinah yesterday. May today’s meditation bring us hope, and put a smile on our faces. Today we will be talking about Timothy, whom Paul described as “my true son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1: 2a). Timothy’s mom was a “Jewess and a believer, but [his] father was a Greek” (Act’s 16: 1, NIV). It seems that Timothy made very good use of his mother’s teaching. Of this Paul had the following to say: I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I am persuaded , now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1: 5, 6).
Paul warns him that the last days will be evil ones, and notifies him of the afflictions that await those who live godly lives. He then goes on to exhort him: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you have learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3: 14. 15). Time and again, his mother’s and grandmother’s teaching is mentioned.
He obviously was a minister of the Word, according to the following exhortation, “If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed” (1 Timothy 4: 6). Timothy, like Samson, had a gift; no doubt different in nature, but a “gift of God,” none the less. Samson was commissioned by God to help to bring His people out of the physical bondage of the Philistines. Timothy was commissioned by God to help to keep His people out of the spiritual bondage of sin.
Perhaps one of Timothy’s greatest asset is that he recognized good advise when he heard it. As a child he was taught how to make good decisions based on sound teaching. Now, as a young man being trained for the ministry, he had not lost the habit of lending a listening ear to sound advice. So Paul could say to him, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2: 15).
As the old apostle is drawing close to the end of his life, he pens what is considered to be one of his last, if not his last, letter, addressed to his spiritual son. In it we read what is considered, in my opinion, one of the most touching paragraphs of any of his writings, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4: 6-8, NKJV).
The time has come to pass the torch along. “Do your best to get here before winter…The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” It is now time to grace the head of his “son in the faith” with a garland, and to put the chain around his neck, as he gets ready to carry on the good work.