I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Timothy 1-4.

    The first thing I want to point out is that there is value to being the child of parents who were faithful. Paul does not go into detail about that value. I can say from personal experience that having been raised by faithful parents has given me a deep-seated trust in God. It has certainly helped me to be less ashamed to tell others about Christ than I might otherwise have been. I do not believe that it can be emphasized too much that we need to not be ashamed to tell others about our faith in Christ, not even when doing so may result on our suffering.

    Paul encourages Timothy (and us) to flee lust of all kinds and instead pursue righteous living. One of the points on which he challenges Timothy is a challenge to me as well. He tells Timothy to avoid foolish, ignorant arguments. However, he does not clearly define what makes a foolish argument and tells us to instruct those who oppose the truth. Yes, he tells us to do the latter gently, but it is oh so easy to go from gently instructing someone to arguing strenuously, especially when they fall into Paul’s description of what many people will be like in the last days. As I look around me today, I have to conclude that we are in the last days that Paul spoke of. Our society is filled with people who love only themselves and their money.

    I could write more about Paul’s description of those people, but you can read that for yourself. Paul writes how we can counter such people and their teachings. We counter those things by remaining faithful to what we have been taught and by immersing ourselves in Scripture, which will teach us what is true and point out to us what is wrong in our lives. We must preach the word of God whether times are favorable or not. The time is coming, and for many people has already come, when people will not be willing to listen to wholesome teaching and will instead seek out those who tell them what they want to hear. We are to patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage those around us. The key word in that being “patiently”. I need to keep a clear mind and not let anger, or any other emotion, overcome the logic and sense which God’s Spirit has given me.