Mission Faithwalk

          In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use.   Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work . (II Timothy 2:20-21)           And the whining begins…  "There are people who are gold and silver, but also people who are wood and clay.  They have no choice in the matter. God’s playing favorites. I want to be a gold goblet. It's not fair!"            Rather than grousing because we haven’t been cast into the role of the Handicapper General (a la Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut) I think we should strive to be the best common use dishes we can be, because for all the ego-boost of being a special purposes dish, we face the same problem as the folks in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. We’re looking for Holy Grails, and it turns out that if we choose th

           Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.   Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.   Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.   Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,   who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.   Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” (II Timothy 2:14-19)           Here we go again. Don’t quarrel about words. Avoid godless chatter. What do these things mean? One resource I checked suggested that this refers to quar

          Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him,      we will also live with him; if we endure,      we will also reign with him. If we disown him,      he will also disown us; if we are faithless,      he remains faithful,      for he cannot disown himself.                                                 (II Timothy 2:11-13)           There’s no indication of where this trustworthy saying came from. There aren’t any cross-references. But, such promises!           If we died with Him Past tense, not present, not future. Dying isn’t something most of us do willingly, but once it happens, it doesn’t have to happen over and over. Yes, there is a progressive reality called sanctification that we must accept, but sanctification is the growing realization of reality, not a repetition of reality. If…then… we will also live with him.           If we endure. This is tougher. There’s time involved. But the reality is that we’re going to endure, whether we li

         Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,   for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.   Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation  that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. (2 Timothy 2:8-10) Perhaps I had a wicked childhood Perhaps I had a miserable youth But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past There must have been a moment of truth For here you are, standing there, loving me Whether or not you should So somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good Nothing comes from nothing Nothing ever could So somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good ( Something Good , Richard Rodgers )           “Why is this happening to me?”           “Why do bad things happen to good people?”           “Is it Karma?”           “Does God hate me? Why does Go

          Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.   No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.   Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.   The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.   Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. (II Timothy 2:3-7)           This is the problem I face. This is my definition of commitment. I think black and white. I live gray. I suspect most people live “grayer” lives than the want to, or think they do. Another problem with this is the fact that seemingly everyone else expects you to live this way. Employers ask for one-hundred and ten percent. Even when you aren’t at work, you’re supposed to be “at work.” Social organizations (including Church) want you to be there whenever the doors are open and be eng

You then, my son,  be strong  in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.   And the things you have heard me say  in the presence of many witnesses  entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.   (II Timothy 2:1-2)           Almost as soon as I got to college, I met someone who thought I was someone else. There were five Karens on my dorm floor, and she mistook me for one who had filled out a survey. Before long, I was a member of a Christian discipleship program and remained with them for three years. There were pros and cons to the group, but they taught me the power of this passage. It’s been 35 years since then, and I wish I could find a program of its type for older adults.           Paul had learned from God. He had taught Timothy and others. Now Timothy was to teach others, who would teach others. As an ad from a few years put it, “and so on, and so on, and so on….”           This is the model on which we should be building our lives. We find a good m

You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.   On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.     May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. (2 Timothy 1:15-18)           This morning, I came across a social media question about why people don’t help 99% of the time. Part of my answer to the questioner was that we tend to want our knights in shining armor to ride in, do all the work, and leave until we want help again. The helper doesn’t really matter so much, because we’re using them to meet a need (or a want.) Another reason I told him was that people aren’t mind-readers. We must communicate our need for help to them.           This is part of one of the lessons I’m learning in Grace

          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)           We’re in the midst of what might be called a French-style revolution. The revolutionaries want to throw off all the shackles that bind them to the autocrats and aristos of the past, rejecting all that came before in their struggle to initiate a utopian, equitable new world. While it’s true that they haven’t pulled the guillotines out of the mothballs, the point (for me) is that they are at least as autocratic and elitist in their new laws as the old aristos were.           Let me give two examples of this perspective: a revolutionary cries that a person, and that person alone, has the right to dictate which pronouns should be used to refer to that person. Another revolutionary insists that no one has a right to disagree with what

            So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.     He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,   but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.   And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.     That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. (II Timothy 1:8-12)           Every now and again someone shares a meme that says “those who aren’t ashamed of Jesus will share this meme.” The politest response from me is no response at all,

I am 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. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (II Timothy 1:5-7)           What was Timothy’s gift? All we know about it is that he received it through the laying on of Paul’s hands. Our first speculation is that it would be that whatever his gift was, it had to be something cool. We’re talking super-sainthood at least. Our second is that it would have been even cooler to have gained some cool gift through the laying on of the hands of someone like Paul.           In the little I found about Timothy, there’s some reason to be impressed. He’s listed as a co-author of a number of the letters Paul wrote that are included in the Bible. In one story about him, as an old ma

          Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge,   which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith. (I Timothy 6:20-21)           Guard duty. It sounds boring, but it’s a sacred and deeply ingrained duty. Soldiers guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier twenty-four hours a day, through any and all weather. Good parents guard their children against those who might do them harm – even, sometimes, from themselves. When someone entrusted to guard does something wrong, somehow, we think it much worse than when someone else does it. Of course, guarding requires wisdom. Guarding a child against ever falling down means the child won’t learn to walk, and walking is a positive thing.          Timothy was given specific instructions as a pastor to guard what was entrusted to his care. So what was it that was entrusted to his care and how was he to guard it? Paul’s

          Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.   Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.   In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (I Timothy 6:17-19)           Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful  steward s of God’s grace in its various forms. (I Peter 4:10)           Let me begin by saying that I recognize that this passage is generally speaking about those who possess a lot of money.   But I also feel the need to point out that there are people who don’t have money who have other sorts of wealth: talent or time in place of treasure, about which they are just as arrogant and in which they pu

But if serving the  Lord  seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you  will   serve , whether the gods your ancestors  serve d beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household,  we   will   serve  the  Lord .” (Joshua 24:15)             I know this isn’t the next passage in I Timothy. We’ll come back to that tomorrow. This is an issue I’ve been thinking about over the past six weeks. I asked a friend to make a plaque with this verse on it and I plan to hang it on my wall somewhere. Yesterday was a busy day, and I feel the need for some reflection time. I sold or otherwise disposed of many boxes of things that had been in the motorhome or had been in Grace Cottage before I bought it. What that means is that there is space where there had not been space before. It’s time to figure things out, and this verse is a cornerstone of the decisions I need to make.              One of the challenges

         But godliness with contentment is great gain.   For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.   But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.   Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.   For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (I Timothy 6:6-10)            Today’s passage contains a favorite but misquoted verse. People think it says “the love of money is the root of all evil.”   They quickly move from there to the conclusion that rich people are evil since they “must” love money. The problem, of course, is that all evil is not the result of money. Sometimes, evil comes about as the result of the “love” of power, of another person, of a philosophy, ideal, nation, group, self… In short, evil is the result of t