CHOSEN, KNOWING, AND SURE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.

That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the One in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return.

2 Timothy 1:11-12 NLT

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Paul wrote his second letter to his missionary partner Timothy, he was suffering in a Roman prison, arrested and incarcerated for sharing the Gospel of Jesus with others, a truth we find revealed in our passage for today. Intuitively, we would maybe think that imprisonment in biblical times would mean someone would be cut off from communicating with others. After all, it’s not like there was internet or cellular means by which to sent emails or texts back then.

But as we see in the Bible, God made the way for Paul to minister to others, even while in captivity and this is something we should never lose sight of. In fact, some of Paul’s most powerful, cherished writings – specifically Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians - were born out of his time when he had no freedom to go anywhere. These letters along with Philemon have been grouped under the category, the prison epistles, for this reason.

As we read verses 11 and 12 of 2 Timothy, chapter 1, we find Paul reaffirming three absolutes regarding his relationship with the God who was sustaining him in the midst of suffering and making the way for him to share with others in distant lands.

First, Paul knew that he was chosen by God.

God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.

As Jesus hand-selected twelve men to follow Him and become the first disciples, so too does God select people to fulfill specific roles and carry out His will and way. In Paul’s case, God had placed the gift of preaching and teaching within him before appointing him as an apostle and missionary for the cause of sharing and spreading the “Good News” of Jesus (aka the Gospel) to the “ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Paul embraced this tasking and ran with it, making a quantum impact on the world by bringing God’s salvation plan and promise through His Son to the nations. When it comes to mere human evangelism, he has no rival in the scriptures in regard to the scope and magnitude of his work and as we see in this and the other prison epistles, he didn’t let incarceration impact his zeal for Christ and the Gospel.

The second thing Paul was completely sure of was that he knew the God he trusted.

I know the One in whom I trust.

Paul was well versed in all the scriptures. Before His conversion to Christianity, he was a fervent Jew known as Saul, so fervent that he actually opposed and persecuted Christians, believing in his heart that this was the right and proper thing to do. He knew God but he didn’t know Jesus and this changed in a big way on the dusty road to Damascus as he traveled with the blessing of the Sanhedrin to continue his assault on those who followed “The Way” which is how disciples of Jesus were often referred to (Acts 9).

You may recall the story and how Jesus confronted Saul, asking him why he was persecuting Him. The first thing Saul asked was, “Who are you Lord?” He asked this because he truly didn’t know Jesus but that changed in a hurry as we find Him not only identifying Himself to Saul but blinding him with the order to go into Damascus and wait for further instructions as to what he was to do.

And so Saul was led into Damascus and fasted for three days as he sat with no sight before he was visited by Ananias, a Christian sent by Jesus to facilitate Saul’s sight restoration.

Do you remember what Ananias said to Saul as he touched his eyes and brought back his vision?

He said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Ananias wanted it to be clear that it was Jesus who had sent him and it was Jesus who desired that Saul could “see again” as well as “be filled with the Holy Spirit”. And from that point forward, Saul who now bore the name Paul knew the One who he placed his full trust and devotion in, the very Son of the God he had known prior. The apostle would commit and dedicate his life to the cause of the Gospel, proclaiming the name of Jesus wherever he was, even in writing letters from prison.

Finally, Paul knew that Jesus would guard those who were saved as a result of the many years of missionary work.

I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return.

We will never fully know the total number of people who came to a relationship with Jesus and were saved due to Paul’s Gospel work but it’s safe to say that it was significant. What we do know is Paul always had those Christians on his heart and in his prayers. He makes this clear in most of the letters he wrote.

Rather than worrying incessantly over this, Paul simply trusted the Jesus He knew, the Jesus who was at the core of the “Good News” that he preached and taught others. He knew the power of the Savior and that the saved were in His sure care, a care that would sustain until the day when Jesus returned to gather all who believed in Him and usher them into eternal glory.

I can’t help but think that this was a great comfort for Paul as he faced death while in that Roman prison for I know the peace it brings me when people I love are in Christ and therefore secure in salvation. It’s a peace that sets me free and motivates me to help others find their own eternal life through Christ through the ministry God has called and equipped me for.

My prayer for you today is that you too have realized that you are chosen and gifted by God to fulfill the Great Commission and make disciples in the name of the Jesus you know, doing this with the full assurance that He guards all those who choose to believe in Him and be saved until that day when He returns for them.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.