PT-3 "Renew Your Gift" (2 Tim. 1:6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/4/2024 9:14 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  PT-3 “Renew Your Gift”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 1:6

 

            Message of the verses:  “And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (1 Timothy 1:6).”

 

            John MacArthur points out that “A believer’s divine giftedness is inseparable from his divine calling.  At salvation, each Christian’s grace gifts are bestowed on him uniquely to equip him to serve God in the specific area or areas of ministry to which he has been called.  The grace gifts are divine enablements for effective service to the Lord.  Timothy’s giftedness prepared him not only for preaching and teaching but also to ‘to do the work of an evangelist [in order to] fulfill your ministry’ (2 Tim. 4:5).”

 

            Paul wrote to Timothy telling him that the gift of God for preaching the Word already is in you.  Paul was reminding him of this truth.  This gift was received at salvation but had not come to full fruition; it was not being employed to the full extent of Timothy’s calling and the Spirit’s power.  Now in chapter four Paul explains explicitly what the means by to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you.  “Preach the word,” Paul admonishes, “be ready in season and out of season; reprove rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2). I decided to look ahead in MacArthur’s commentary to where he is explaining this verse and he has two sections as he explains more fully what he taught on this verse.  I guess that we will have to wait on looking at it more fully. 

 

            Now I want to look at what it means or what it could mean “Through the laying on of my hands.”  MacArthur writes that this “may mean that Paul laid his hands on Timothy at the time of his conversion, which corresponded to the time of receiving his unique spiritual giftedness.  Or it may mean that Timothy’s spiritual endowment was extraordinary, being received, or perhaps enhanced at a later time, through the…hands of the apostle, as well as through ‘the laying on of hands by the presbytery’ (1 Tim. 4:14), and ‘in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you’ (1 Tim. 1:18).”

 

            I remember a very long time ago when our family was returning home from a vacation in Florida and my wife was asking me why I wanted to get home so soon.  Well the reason was that at our church that night was a special service for our youth pastor who was going to be ordained that evening.  Well we made it and got to watch the service and at the end of the service a number of Pastors and former Pastors put their hands on our youth Pastor and prayed over him.  There was an older retired Pastor that was the one saying the prayer and I thought that it would never end, not that I was bored or anything like that and as I look back on that, probably at least 35-40 years ago, I look back with fond memories of that evening thankful that I rushed home to be a part of that service.  I have witnessed other ordination service after that one, but none like that one.  I guess that I think that that was the kind of service that Timothy had when he was ordained.  The sad part of this is that man who went on to be a Pastor near Detroit MI is not in the ministry at this time as I think that he is selling insurance now.

            MacArthur writes “But Paul’s basic admonition to Timothy, and to every believer, remains unchanged.  Divine giftedness is to be continually rekindled, fanned into flame, in order that Christ may fully work out His will for us and through us.  The very fact that we have giftedness from God demands its full and constant use.  And the fact that every believer has a divinely bestowed gift means that every believer has a divinely equipped ministry.”

 

            He goes on with this very important topic to write “Whatever specific gifts our giftedness many embrace; they are continually to be exercised in God’s power for the extension of His kingdom, for the building of His church, and for the glory of His name.  If a believer has the gift of prophecy, it should be exercised ‘according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness’ (Rom.12:6-8). And in every case, he should not be ‘lagging behind in diligence, [but be] fervent in spirit, serving the Lord’ (v. 11).

 

            “Although Timothy’s gift was given to him by God the Holy Spirit and placed within him, it could not become evident or begin to function until he was commissioned to minister.  In a similar though not as unique a way, every believer must genuinely and unreservedly devote himself to serving the Lord in the energy of the Spirit before his giftedness can become truly evident or effective.  When our heart’s desire is to please the Lord, the Lord will guide us by that desire into the specific areas of service for which He has gifted us.  The Lord does not mock His children.  He lovingly bestows desires that correspond to His gifts.

 

            “When we begin to function in the area in which God has gif ted us, our boldness in His service will grow, because we know we are doing what He has appointed and equipped us to do.  Nothing gives a believer more courage and more protection from being ashamed of Christ that knowing he is in the Lord’s will and is operating his gift in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 

Spiritual Meaning For my Life Today:  It was a long time ago that I meet a missionary doctor who is the one to teach me how to write the Spiritual Diaries that I try to write each day, and I believe it was at that time when I realized that this is what the Lord wanted me to do for the cause of Christ.  I don’t know how many I have written over the years but it has been many and the Holy Spirit of God is casing people all over the world to read them.  I give all the glory to the Lord as I believe this is a part of His plan for me, and so He deserves all the glory.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today: I certainly desire to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in me.  I desire to do this so that I can continue to used of the Lord for His Kingdom.

 

12/4/2024 10:15 AM

 

PT-1 "Christians Accept the Faith" (1 John 2:20-21, 27)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/3/2024 10:05 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  “Christians Accept the Faith”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference: 1 John 2:20-21,27

 

            Message of the verses:  “20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth…. 27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

 

            In my last SD I stated that it would take us a while to get through this section and the next, but I have to say that I got mixed up and the reason is because I am working with four different books of the Bible that I have written Spiritual Diaries on.  I post one on my Facebook page, and one on my other blog, and then two on this blog, one in the morning which is from 2Timothy, and one in the evening from 1John.  Bottom line this should be a sort section that we are looking at tonight, but I will see how far I get.

 

            Now going back to two SD’s before this one we learned that the false teachers who threatened John’s readers employed the terms for knowledge and anointing to describe their religious experience.  That was a problem as they arrogantly saw themselves as possessing an elevated and esoteric form of diving knowledge, and as the recipients of a special, secret, transcendent anointing, on that the “common people” could not obtain.  So this led them to believe they were privy to truth that the uninitiated lacked.  So John’s response, which was both as a rebuttal to the antichrists and a reassurance to the believers was to assert that, in reality, all true Christians have an anointing from the Holy One.

 

            John was stepping on their toes and that is exactly what they needed. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “Because believers have received that anointing, they have the true understanding of God that comes exclusively through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), ‘in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Col. 2:3).  They do not need any secret, special, or transcendent understanding or esoteric insight.  Anointing (chrisma) literally means ‘ointment’ or ‘oil’ cf. Heb. 1:9.”  “You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.”  “In this text it refers figuratively to the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 1:21-22), who has taken up residency in believers at the behest of Jesus Christ, the holy One (Cf. Luke 4:34; Acts 3:14), and reveals through Scripture all they need to know (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:9-10).”

 

            Now in verse 21, John reiterates that believers have true knowledge of God by saying he had not written to them because they did not know the truth, but because they did know it.  John then closes that verse with the axiomatic statement that no lie is of the truth—something cannot be simultaneously true and false.  I guess if you’re a politician you would not say that something could not be false and true depending on who you were trying to impress.  No because Christians are taught by the Holy Spirit to know the truth, they can recognize doctrinal error for what it really is.  “10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13  which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:10-16).  MacArthur writes “The apostle wrote as he did because his readers already knew the gospel and its attendant truths and would understand his appeal to the exclusivity of biblical truth.”

 

            It looks like I will finish this section in tomorrow’s SD, Lord willing.  Like I said in  the last SD John does not use any really big words, but it surely takes an effort and certainly the help of the Spirit of God to understand what he is writing.

 

12/3/2024 10:49 PM

 

PT-2 "Renew Your Gift" (2 Tim. 1:6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/3/2024 8:33 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  PT-2 “Renew Your Gift”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 1:6

 

            Message of the verses:  “And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (1 Timothy 1:6).”

 

            I want to begin this SD by looking at the words to kindle afresh and the word in the Greek for these words is anazpureo, which literally means “to keep the fire alive,” to fan the embers into flame and not let them die out.  I like to watch people’s stories on YouTube about camping or building cabins in the woods to live in.  I have been watching the story of a man who has three boys and he takes one or two or sometimes all three out into the woods in order to build a primitive cabin for them to stay in.  One of the things that he seems to be doing is lighting a fire and then trying to keep it going.  You see him bending down near where the fire looks like it is out and blow on it to get it started again.  I think that this describes these words to kindle afresh very well.  MacArthur writes that this word “carries the same idea of constancy as does the apostle’s declaration, ‘I die daily’ (1 Cor. 15:31).  We need to continually bury self-will in order to continually allow Christ’s Holy Spirit to work His will through us.  Just as every believer, like Paulo, needs to wake up each day and bury self, every believer also needs each day to continually kindle afresh the gift of God he has received.  The negative expression of that command is ‘Do not quench the Spirit’ (1 Thess. 5:19).  Under the Spirit’s guidance, and in His power, we must regularly exercise the gift we have received from God, lest it atrophy from neglect and disuse.”

 

            Now the word gift translates charisma, and this denotes a specific expression charis (‘grace’) and so therefore it carries the idea of a grace gift.  This refers to the general categories of spiritual gifts that Paul explains in the 12^th chapter of Romans and also in the 12^th chapter of 1 Corinthians.   God is the One who bestows these enablements on believers according to His own divine will, totally apart from any personal merit, qualification, or seeking.  MacArthur writes “Therefore, ‘since we have gifts [charismata, plural of charisma] that differ according to the grace [charis] given to us,’ Paul admonished believers in Rome, ‘let each exercise them accordingly’ (Rom. 12:6).

 

            “In the present passage, Paul uses the singular charisma in the same way as Peter does in his first letter:  ‘As each one has received a spiritual gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God; …so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.’ (1 Peter 4:10-11).  In both instances the apostles are speaking of each believer’s unique spiritual giftedness, which may encompass several gifts.”

 

            I just want to add that when a person becomes a believe that this is one of the things that happens to them, and that is they are given one or more spiritual gifts in order to build up the body of Christ.  Christ told His disciples that it was good for Him to go away, for that would mean that the Holy Spirit would come upon those who are believers and a part of that is the giving of gift or gifts in order to continue doing the will of God in His Church.  The Church is the body of Christ doing on earth what He desires us to do for the cause of Christ.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life:  I desire to do the work, through the power of the Holy Spirit what Christ has ordained me to do for the cause of Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Make sure that I am clean from sin in order to be used by God, which means that I must confess my sins to stay clean.

 

12/3/2024 9:13 AM

 

 

           

 

"The Characteristics of Christians" (1 John 2:20-21, 24-25, 27)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12-02-2024

 

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:  “The Characteristics of Christians”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference: 1John 2:20-21, 24-25, 27

 

            Message of the verses:  “20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.  24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.  27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

 

            I want to say that what we are looking at in these verses is actually an introduction to these verses, which will make this SD another short one.  I remember a long time ago when I was listening to a Pastor whose name was Jay Vernon McGee, a great man of God who is now with the Lord.  He went through the Bible on his radio program and was praying that the Lord would allow him to live to go through it one time, however the Lord allowed him to go through the entire Bible two times before he called him home.  What I remember that goes along with 1 John is that he stated that there were really no big words in John’s writing, but that does not mean that at times it is difficult to understand. 

 

            We have just finished yesterday looking at “The Characteristics of Antichrists” and today we begin to look at “The Characteristics of Christians,” but the verses are very close together in John’s writings and so John MacArthur decided to look at these verses which are very close together to show us these two characteristics, of antichrists, and of believers.

 

            I am going to quote the short paragraph in MacArthur’s commentary on the introduction to these verses and then Lord willing, will look at the first section in tomorrow’s SD, which will probably take a number of days to get through it.

 

            “Opposite antichrists are true Christians who are people committed to the truth.  In the second letter, John wrote to the church, ‘I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth’)v. 4a); and again in his third epistle he encouraged his readers with the following: ‘I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth’ (v. 4).  The apostle’s portrait of Christians as ones who walk in the truth (cf. 2 Cor. 4:2; Eph. 6:14; 1 Thess. 2:13) is in sharp distinction to the antichrists who propagate spiritual lies.  In the end, there are two obvious reasons that believers are not led astray:  they accept the faith, and they remain faithful to it.”

 

            Let us take a moment to look at the verses above that are in parentheses. 

 

2 Cor. 4:2 “but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

 

Ephesians 6:14 “Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,”

 

1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”

 

12/2/2024 9:47 PM

PT-1 "Renew Your Gift" (2 Timothy 1:6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/2/2024 8:18 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  PT-1 “Renew Your Gift”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 1:6

 

            Message of the verses:  “And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (1 Timothy 1:6).

 

            I think that it is possible that one of the reasons that the Holy Spirit caused me to start a study on 2 Timothy is because there are some things that are going on in my life that seemed to be going on in the life of Timothy and so that being the case I can learn what Paul writes to Timothy in order to correct those things in Timothy’s life to work on similar things that are going on in my life.  I realize that the age of Timothy when Paul wrote to him was probably at least 40 years younger than I am now, but if the issues are similar then I don’t think that age means that much.

 

            I have mentioned that it seems likely that Timothy’s fervor and devotion had cooled to some degree.  Paul’s first admonition, therefore, was for this young friend and fellow minister to him would be to renew his divinely inspired commitment to proclaim and defend the gospel and to faithfully shepherd the believers that God had entrusted to his care, which as mentioned also was in Ephesus.

 

            MacArthur writes “For this reason refers to the ‘sincere faith within’ Timothy commended to the previous verse.  The product of sincere faith is faithful service, and the heart of faithful service is ministering our gift unreservedly for the Lord, the gift which He distributes ‘to each one individually just as He wills’ (1 Cor. 12:11).  Apart from ministering our gift in the service of the Lord, our life on earth is worthless.  Our sole purpose as Christians is to obey and serve the Lord through the gift with which He has uniquely blessed each of us, so that the body may be built up to be effective in evangelism.”

 

            Now Timothy’s gift from the Lord was obviously teaching and preaching the gospel as he was a Pastor in Ephesus as mentioned.  Personally it is my belief that the gift that the Lord has given to me when I became a believer is to teach, and although I do teach a Sunday school class it seems to me that my heart has been and still is in writing the Spiritual Diaries that I write each day.  I began to seriously studying the Word of God after visiting a Missionary doctor who is now with the Lord.  I went to him for physical issues and the first thing that he taught me to do was to write Spiritual Diaries.  This godly man was a Missionary doctor in India and had to leave there because of political issues and so he came back to the United States and because the doctor for Baptist Mid Missions, but still had a practice to which I went to see him.  There was a lady working at BMM who went to our church in Westlake, Ohio and she would bring booklets to my wife and I which was in the format of how I do my Spiritual Diaries each day, but I chose to do them on my computer.  I did these for a long time and then when our daughter and her husband went to Kirgizstan to adopt their son they started a blog about their experience in going there.  I picked up on the blog idea and then while living in Hawaii in 2004 I began to put my devotionals onto the internet using blogs.  I was very new at this and accidently started two different blogs, and so I decided to put my older devotionals onto one blog and the newer ones, beginning with Nehemiah onto my other blog.  So all of this began in August of 2004 right before my wife and I moved back home to Ohio and I have been putting them onto my blogs ever since.  In the beginning I was not nearly as faithful in doing this but in the last ten or so years I have only missed a few days in putting my Spiritual Diaries onto my blogs.  God has certainly blessed this effort and that is why I said that I truly enjoy studying His Word and sharing it to those around the world who look at it.  I realize that for the most part that I will never on this earth meet those who read these Spiritual Diaries, but my hope is to meet them when we get to heaven and my great hope is to meet people who that the Holy Spirit has given them an effectual call for salvation after reading my Spiritual Diaries to which I pray about each day.

 

            OK I realize that I got off the track here this morning, but it was important for me to talk about what the Lord has called me to do and so I will now end this first SD about renewing the gift that God had given to Timothy and pick it up in the next SD.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Trust that the Lord will be with me as I desire to continue to fight off some problems that I face each day, so that my life will count for the work of the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to accomplish the things that he has gifted me to accomplish.

 

12/2/2024 8:52 AM  

PT-4 "The Characteristics of Antichrists" (1 John 2:19, 22-23, 26)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/01/2024 8:11 PM

 

My Worship Time                                              Focus:  PT-4 “The Characteristics of Antichrists”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  1 John 2:19, 22-23, 26”

 

            Message of the verses:  “19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us… 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also…26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.”

 

            I mentioned in my last SD that tonight’s SD would be very short as we have only one small section which is the third point.

 

            The third point of recognizable, characteristic of antichrist is that by nature try to confuse the faithful.  I have to say that this characteristic can cause problems for believers if they are not in tuned to the Word of God.  John warned his readers that he had written to them concerning those who were trying to deceive them.  It was true then and is true today that false teachers persist in trying to mislead the saints, but ultimately they cannot cause believers to abandon the faith.  Now regarding their futile efforts, Jesus said, False Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24; cf. John 10:4-5).  We will now look at John 10:4-5 “4 “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.’”  They can muddle the simplicity of believers’ devotion to Christ (cf. Gal. 1:6-9; Col. 2:4-5, 16-19), tamper with their spiritual confidence (cf. 1 Tim. 6:3-5a), cause them to doubt the sufficiency of the Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17; cf. Col. 2:20-23) and be confused or uncertain about key doctrines (Gal. 3:1), but they cannot take away the faith that secures them to Christ or the eternal life that belongs to those who are truly elect and regenerated (John 10:27-29).

 

            This may be a short SD, but it is really an important Spiritual Diary, and the reason is that it talks about the truth that if a person is truly a born-again believer as they realize that they are a sinner, and the confess their sin to the Lord and ask Him to come into their heart and forgive them, and after that they begin and continue to walk with the Lord then there is nothing that can be done to cause them to lose their salvation even though as we look at some of many of these verse references a believer can be tempted by the antichrists who are around that they can lose their salvation, they cannot.  This is a very important thing for a new believer to learn and stand firm on these verses that show that once saved always saved.  

 

            Now in our next SD, Lord willing I will begin to look at the next section “The Characteristics of Christians” and this will cover 1 John 2:20-21, 24-25, and 27.

 

12/1/2024 8:37 PM

PT-6 "Intro to 2 Timothy 1:6-18"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/01/2024 8:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-6 “Intro to 2 Timothy 1:6-18”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference: 2 Timothy 1:6-18

 

Message of the verses:  “6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. 12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. 13 Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. 15 You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; 17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me —  18 the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day — and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.”

 

            I begin this sixth SD on the intro to 2 Timothy 1:6-18 by again quoting from John MacArthur’s commentary on w Timothy.  He writes “Even if they have not heard the gospel, all men are accountable before God, ‘because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse’ (Rom. 1:19-20). For those who have had the immeasurable blessing of hearing the way of salvation, of having knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,’ yet refuse to trust in Him, ‘the last state has become worse for them than the first.  For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them’ (2 Peter 2:20-21). 

 

             “It is characteristic of the unsaved person to be ashamed of Christ, ‘because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so’ (Rom. 8:7; cf. 5:10; Col. 2:21).  Therefore, when a believer is ashamed of Christ he is acting like an unbeliever.  The shame that marks the unbelieving soul should never mark a Christian, but tragically it sometimes does.  The shame may be obvious and public or it may be subtle and private, but the Lord always knows of it and is grieved.

 

            “The writer of Hebrews reminds us that ‘it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.  For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren’ (Heb. 2:10-11).  Quoting the magnificent messianic Psalm 22, he reinforces the truth, saying ‘I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren’ (v. 12).  The Lord redeemed us through His suffering, through which He became ‘sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Cor. 5:21).  He ‘gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father’ (Gal. 1:4).

 

            “A Christian’s being ashamed of the Lord is cause by a shameless self-interest that is unwilling to pay the price of faithful discipleship.  Throughout church history, the Lord’s name has suffered reproach because of the sinfulness of His people.  Yet, despite our many sins, including our shame of Him, the sinless and righteous Lord is no ashamed of us!  He does not hesitate to call us brethren (cf. Heb. 2:11), even when we are ashamed to call Him Lord.

 

            “Speaking directly to Timothy, and indirectly to all believers, Paul sets forth eight means by which a Christian may guard against being ashamed of Christ.  They are: renew your gift (1:6); consider your resources (v. 7); accept your suffering (v. 8a); remember your calling vv. 8b-10); realize your duty (vv. 11-12a); trust your security (v. 12b); affirm your doctrine (vv. 13-14); and choose your associates (vv. 15-18).”

 

            That is our assignment to look into those eight sub-sections that are mentioned in the last paragraph, and I have to say that it will take us a long time to go over them, but I pray that from those eight sub-sections that the Lord will speak to my heart and to the hearts of those who read my Spiritual Diaries.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire that the Lord bring about revival to my heart as I study this last letter that Paul wrote before he was ushered into heaven to be with His Lord and Savior.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To remember the good things that the Lord has done in my life and be refreshed in order for Him to continue to use me for the cause of Christ.

 

12/1/2024 8:36 AM