PT-7 “The Past: The Course, In Which He was Faithful” (2 Tim. 4:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2025 9:52 AM

My Worship Time                      Focus: PT-7 “The Past:  The Course, In Which He was Faithful”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:7

Message of the verse:  “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;”

            Today we begin to look at the 5th part of the third of five principles which are expressed or implied in this verse that were foundational to Paul’s life and service.

            I will again quote from John MacArthur’s commentary in order for all to understand what is going on in this verse that we have been looking at for over a week.  This is the kind of Bible Study that I like so very much, and this is why I miss John MacArthur so much, but very happy that he is in heaven with his Lord Jesus Christ, whom he served all of his life.

            “A fifth foundational principle of Paul’s life and ministry was recognizing his sacred trust regarding the Word of God, the controlling element of everything he said an did.  We should all want to be able to say with the apostle’s truthfulness and sincerity, I have kept the faith.

            “Have kept is from tereo, which carries the various ideas of watching over, heeding, or preserving.  Jesus used the verb three times in His high priestly prayer.  He lovingly asked His Father to ‘them [His people] in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are,’ remembering that ‘while I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished.’  A few verses later, He asked that the Father would ‘keep them from the evil one’ (John 17:11-12, 15 emphasis added; cf. 1 John 5:18).  Jude speaks of believers as those ‘who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ’ (Jude 1:1, emphasis added).

            “On our part, keeping the faith involves ‘being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Eph. 4:3, emphasis added) and keeping ourselves ‘free from sin’ (1 Tim. 5:22).  Using a different verb but giving the same admonition, Paul charged Timothy to guard the Word of God, which had been entrusted to him (1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:14).  Regardless of the obstacles or cost, we are to preserve and proclaim the immeasurable treasure of the Word.

            “The first requirement for keeping that treasure is to recognize that it is a treasure.  A beautiful and touching story is told of a young French girl who has been born blind.  After she learned to read by touch, a friend gave her a Braille copy of Mark’s gospel.  She read it so much that her fingers became calloused and insensitive.  In an effort to regain her feeling, she cut the skin from the ends of her fingers.  Tragically however, her callouses were replaced by permanent and even more insensitive scars.  She sobbingly gave the book a good-by kiss, saying ‘Farewell, farewell, sweet word of my heavenly Father.’  In doing so, she discovered that her lips were even more sensitive than her fingers had been, and she spent the rest of her life reading her great treasure with her lips.  Would that every Christian had such an appetite for the Word of God!

            “In 1904, William Borden, a member of the Borden dairy family, finished high school in Chicago and was given a world cruise as a graduation present.  Particularly while traveling through the Near East and Far East, he became heavily burdened for the lost.  After returning home, he spent seven years at Princeton University, the first four in undergraduate work and the last three in seminary.  While in school, he penned these words in the back of his Bible:  ‘No reserves.’  Although his family pleaded with him to take control of the business, which was foundering, he insisted that God’s call to the mission field had priority.  After disposing of his wealth, he added ‘No retreat’ after ‘No reserves.’  On his way to China to witness to Muslims there, he contracted cerebral meningitis in Egypt and died within a month.  After his death, someone looking through his Bible discovered these final words:  ‘No regrets,’ He knew that the Lord does not require success, only faithfulness.

            “We should be constantly aware that our lives are a spiritual struggle, because that is what God’s Word repeatedly teaches.  We know we are engaged in the most noble of causes, because that is how the Word defines it.  We are to labor with self-discipline, because that is what the Word requires.  We know our time is precious and limited and we know our calling is a sacred trust, because that is what the Word declares to be true.”

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  Being reminded that my spiritual life is a struggle it gives me confidence that I am not the only one who faces this issue.  I read a book back in 1999, the year that I retired from my job at Ford Motor Company, and went to a cabin in the woods where I fasted for a week or so to find out what the Lord wanted me to do.  The book was entitled “Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back,” it was written by Charles Swindoll and he was the perfect one to write this book.  In our Christian life this is usually what happens to us as we move forward in our walk with the Lord (3 steps forward), and then something happens where we move (2 steps back).  In looking at what John MacArthur wrote in the last paragraph of his commentary it made me think of this book.  The Christian life is not easy, it is impossible for us on our own to move forward in it, but with the aid of the Holy Spirit and also the Word of God, and Pastors it can be done.

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  Keep moving forward in my walk with the Lord even though it is a struggle at times.

7/30/2025 10:28 AM