Guard Duty II

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (II Timothy 1:13-14) 

          Have you ever had to keep watch over something? I have yet to find it exciting or even interesting for long. Oh, sometimes there are moments, but most of guarding involves w…a…i…t…i…n…g…. Waiting for something to happen that threatens what is being guarded. It also involves discipline. You must keep yourself prepared. 

          For military folks, that discipline means physical preparation. One must be able to fight. I’m told that for Treasury agents, that discipline involves studying real money, so that when they encounter a forgery, they can recognize it. If you’ve seen pictures of the soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, discipline involves all sorts of conditions. Something else about guards is that they rarely work alone. On TV, when they do, they seem to fail more often than not. One of the keys to guarding is the relationship of the guard to what is guarded. It’s easier to guard someone or something if you love what you’re guarding or if you love what you’re guarding it from. As Victor Frankl noted, when you have a why, you can endure the whats and hows.

          Paul wrote of guarding what he had told Timothy as a pattern of sound teaching and of guarding what had been entrusted to him. Like the Treasury agent, that meant that Timothy had to thoroughly know what Paul had said, and to believe it to be true, and to love that truth. No one could be allowed to “improve” on the Mona Lisa or Last Supper that had been handed to him for care. Fortunately, Timothy had help: the Holy Spirit.

          Paul’s charge to Timothy is also to us. We may not be pastors, but God has entrusted His Word to us. He has entrusted His Spirit to us. We need to guard both first from ourselves, and secondly from others who would also twist His Word or quench His Spirit. We are to keep our love for God as a higher priority than our love for ourselves or our love for other people. 

         Fortunately, He has given us the Holy Spirit, who doesn’t sleep or get sloppy about His duty. Even when we get lured away from duty, He can wake us up or remind us what we’re guarding.

          Lord, please cause Your Spirit to remain awake in my soul even when I am sleeping on duty. Teach me to recognize imposters and counterfeits, and to use the weapons You’ve provided to protect what You have entrusted to me.