Paul to Timothy: STAND FIRM
(This is the third of five posts from Second Timothy. Please read the introduction as well as the commands to live and grow up if you haven't already.)
Without a strong foundation, you can't build anything.
Consider math: if you don't learn to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, you are in deep trouble when the time comes to factor or find derivatives. If you don't learn the foundations of grammar, your paper-writing grades will suffer throughout high school and college. And if you don't learn to manage money well when you have little, you're sunk when it comes to managing household expenses and taxes and retirement.
But there is one foundation that is more important than anything else:
"God's solid foundation stands firm, having this inscription: 'The Lord knows those who are His, and everyone who names the name of the Lord must turn away from unrighteousness.'" (2 Timothy 2:19).
You have just read the secret to the solid foundation of faith in this verse:
You are God's.
Live in righteousness.
So simple. No hoops to jump through, no special prayers to memorize, no essay requirements or standardized tests. Just know you are God's and live righteously.
It sounds simple, but actually doing it takes much work.
First, knowing you're God's means claiming that He is your identity. Anything good in you is from Him. Anything bad in you is you. You claim His power, His love, His knowledge, and His plan as your own, choosing to ignore everything else. This won't turn you into some sort of robot; on the contrary, it will allow you to blossom into the person He created you to be. He created you. He alone knows who you really are. And you can only find the real you through Him.
So once you are God's and believe it, you turn away from unrighteousness. Righteousness is being right before God: living right, choosing right, thinking right, believing right. So unrighteousness is anything that ruins our rightness in God's sight: sin, of course, but also disbelief, depending on ourselves, and focusing on anything that is NOT God. Turn away from those things.
Be God's. Live righteously.
So what happens when we do? We become precious:
"Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver bowls, but also those of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:20-21).
DID YOU CATCH THAT? You are made to be a "special instrument." You are made to make music that glorifies God. When you are God's and you live righteously, you spread that music wherever you go, revealing the melody of the One who made all sound.
And you are valuable. Not just an old wooden or clay bowl; YOU ARE PRECIOUS. Silver and gold. Beautiful. Costly. Set on a shelf for everyone to marvel and compliment and see. You're special in the sight of Almighty God; created for an honorable use. In living righteously, you choose not to be stained by the world and sin and filth. You believe what God says about you and you live it.
And as a precious instrument you are "prepared for every good work." (This is when it gets really good!) Because when your faith fits your feet, you are a living, breathing testimony to God and all that He is. He prepares you, He sends you, He empowers you, and He uses you to fulfill His plans not just for yourself and your generation but in light of all eternity.
Believing, living, and walking in faith all starts with a firm foundation.
Jesus spoke to this very idea at the end of the Sermon on the Mount:
Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great! (Matthew 7:24-27)
You know what the strong foundation is. YOU CAN stand firm on it.
@leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
Please continue to follow me by email! Top right corner :)
Without a strong foundation, you can't build anything.
Consider math: if you don't learn to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, you are in deep trouble when the time comes to factor or find derivatives. If you don't learn the foundations of grammar, your paper-writing grades will suffer throughout high school and college. And if you don't learn to manage money well when you have little, you're sunk when it comes to managing household expenses and taxes and retirement.
But there is one foundation that is more important than anything else:
"God's solid foundation stands firm, having this inscription: 'The Lord knows those who are His, and everyone who names the name of the Lord must turn away from unrighteousness.'" (2 Timothy 2:19).
You have just read the secret to the solid foundation of faith in this verse:
You are God's.
Live in righteousness.
So simple. No hoops to jump through, no special prayers to memorize, no essay requirements or standardized tests. Just know you are God's and live righteously.
It sounds simple, but actually doing it takes much work.
First, knowing you're God's means claiming that He is your identity. Anything good in you is from Him. Anything bad in you is you. You claim His power, His love, His knowledge, and His plan as your own, choosing to ignore everything else. This won't turn you into some sort of robot; on the contrary, it will allow you to blossom into the person He created you to be. He created you. He alone knows who you really are. And you can only find the real you through Him.
So once you are God's and believe it, you turn away from unrighteousness. Righteousness is being right before God: living right, choosing right, thinking right, believing right. So unrighteousness is anything that ruins our rightness in God's sight: sin, of course, but also disbelief, depending on ourselves, and focusing on anything that is NOT God. Turn away from those things.
Be God's. Live righteously.
So what happens when we do? We become precious:
"Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver bowls, but also those of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:20-21).
DID YOU CATCH THAT? You are made to be a "special instrument." You are made to make music that glorifies God. When you are God's and you live righteously, you spread that music wherever you go, revealing the melody of the One who made all sound.
And you are valuable. Not just an old wooden or clay bowl; YOU ARE PRECIOUS. Silver and gold. Beautiful. Costly. Set on a shelf for everyone to marvel and compliment and see. You're special in the sight of Almighty God; created for an honorable use. In living righteously, you choose not to be stained by the world and sin and filth. You believe what God says about you and you live it.
And as a precious instrument you are "prepared for every good work." (This is when it gets really good!) Because when your faith fits your feet, you are a living, breathing testimony to God and all that He is. He prepares you, He sends you, He empowers you, and He uses you to fulfill His plans not just for yourself and your generation but in light of all eternity.
Believing, living, and walking in faith all starts with a firm foundation.
Jesus spoke to this very idea at the end of the Sermon on the Mount:
Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great! (Matthew 7:24-27)
You know what the strong foundation is. YOU CAN stand firm on it.
@leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
Please continue to follow me by email! Top right corner :)
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