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!
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