What to do when the bottom falls out!

Do your best to come to me soon.  For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.  Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.  Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.  Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. (2nd Timothy 4: 9-15). ESV

Have you ever felt abandoned, or alone? Circumstances propelled your life in a down word spiral that led to bedrock. From that low position you wandered, will I make it, will I survive? Friends well meaning, council to look up, or the suggestion “It will be alright” sounded hollow, and empty! What they offered as “Well-meaning” seemed to you then, as well….mean!

It’s been said when a neighbor loses their job that’s a recession, when you lose your job that’s depression.

Life is in one sense a thrilling adventure! To be born on this spinning ball in the universe, to look back on being children, to grow in to young adults, to strike out on our own for parts unknown is well at times a rush!

Life is sometimes agonizing: We quickly discover, that leaving home, while desired, sends us into a harsh and cold world, where for many the milk of human kindness has curdled! What will you do, what will I do, when the bottom seems to have fallen out?

Paul's letter to Timothy is coming to a sudden conclusion. He is sharing the depth of his hearts heaviness with us today, and we need to observe how a “Christian handles adversity” because we have been and will be called upon again to do the same!

We need other people, because Life Can be Lonely. Do your best to come to me soon.  For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

There are many times in our lives, when hopelessness and a sense of foreboding can seem overwhelming.  No greater champion for Christ than Paul, his faith was a singing faith, literally in another imprisonment he sang, was he thinking about that now?  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16:25

Singing in Prison at midnight, and the prisoners were listening! I like the order in that verse, praying and singing! Someone once said “You can do more after you have prayed, but you can’t do more until you have prayed!” The song had not gone out of His heart, yet in that confinement he reaches out to Timothy…..Do your best to come to me soon! Twice in chapter four (Vs 9, 21) we read of Paul's urgent request for Timothy to come to Rome.

The late English Theologian John Stott wrote: “One sometimes meets super-spiritual people who claim that they never feel lonely and have no need for friends, for the companionship of Christ satisfies all their needs. But human friendship is the loving provision of God for mankind” 

We will be wronged by others, but remember, The Lord Settles Accounts.  Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.  Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.

Live almost any length of time and you will have conflict! Our son Ben as a child  was playing with a another child “a girl”, in our then Kansas home. I heard him crying, I soon discovered, the girl had hit him in the head with a toy! I told Ben, “You need to be friends with that Girl”….he said to me…..“That Girl not my friend”!

Paul had met many people in his ministry some, who were warmed by the message of Christ, others who took offense at any suggestion of the need to confess sins, and be saved, still others who rejected the message especially if it affected their business.  Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm! Was he in the idol making business and that business was suffering because people were turning from idols to the Lord? 

An idol is anything you love more, serve more, or fear more than the Lord!

There ill be times in your life when you will feel lonely but as a Christian your never alone! The Lord is with you, and He will send real friends into your life at just the right time! Others will hurt you, sometimes maliciously, remember the Lord settles accounts! Next time someone hurts you, tell Jesus on them, and ask God to give you the strength to forgive them! 

To forgive is to set a prisoner free, only to find out that the prisoner.....was ourselves!