1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
2 Timothy 4:1-2
Considering how I’ve been playing too much Dune: Spice Wars over the first half of this year’s Holy Week (where I should really be reflecting), I took it upon myself – well, I FORCED myself to not only do some reading of Scripture, but also, to write about it; And, no, not for the word count, as in here in Evernote, but on a notebook. And as I continued to write, I was pleasantly surprised and reminded of how good it feels to write without thinking of hitting 100, 500, or 1000 words, and also how good it feels to write actual names, to be more in detail, without fear of data being ‘mined’ or of specifics being exploited.
I tell you – Yes, there’s a lot of good to gain and a lot of stress to disperse and unload when you write with the intention of posting, but, again, there’s also a lot of good derived exclusively from writing for yourself… It must be something about writing with a pen on a nice notebook; Oh, and not just any ordinary pen, either. See, if I write with a ballpen, my hand is more or less in sync with the flow of my mind… but, as in earlier today, when I used a 0.05mm point pen, my hand and (consequently) my mind were forced to slow down. I was reminded that not everything needs to be placed on paper immediately, nor does everything need to be recorded and recalled. Also, in your flow, if you’re meant to remember certain details and to forget the rest, then, in the words of Ludlum’s Jason Bourne… so be it.
As I was reading and writing through both Proverbs 16 and 17 earlier today, I eventually found myself building on a thought that came up while I was walking to hit 20 thousand steps (!) last night. I was thinking about the nature of our God, our Father; How He was infinite and eternal, and how His love was everlasting. I was fully aware of how we, as creations, are nowhere near being the smallest measure of being capable of containing the endless and timeless character of our Creator. Usually, this alone would have me conclude that line of thought by saying that, yes, God isn’t to be contained, nor to be ‘learned’ – but faith is trusting Him.
Through this path of pondering I believe I was led to remember the powerful conversation between the Pharisees and the once-blind man, and the latter’s profound response to the claims of Christ being a sinner. In John 9:25, the healed man said, ‘Whether He is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that once I was blind, I now see.’
That frames a clearer view into the faith which I believe Christ authored into us, don’t you think? Or, well, let me let you into what that got me thinking, in the pattern of the blind man:
(Whether He is a sinner I do not know.) I am not even going to begin trying to explain the infinite and eternal God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
One thing I do know:
I once was sin – separated, dead, doomed to oblivion.
But now, through Christ, I am reconciled. I am alive, now and forever.
In Paul’s charge to Timothy, he warned him of persecution of the believers, and also of deception – and, what’s worse, that the world is growing to be more willing to be deceived. In our time I believe this would mean that not only will they willingly seek out more lies against Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension, but they would also invest intention and energy to steal from those who believe, to kill and destroy those who believe the Truth.
In both response and preparation for all this going on, Paul tells Timothy – Preach the Word. Preach the Truth… and I’d like to emphasize we ought to be ready in season and out of season.
In patience, we teach, and for the sake of teaching, we are patient. In preaching the Word, we preach Christ. We glorify Christ, who is the Truth (and Totality, from my point of view) of God’s grace, just as we are gracious in proclaiming His matchless glory.
Our reprove: Whether He is a sinner I do not know.
Our rebuke and exhortation: One thing I do know: I once was blind, but now I see.
Since the end of 2024 I’ve personally been all about a ‘mantra’ of sorts, which I’ve determined for myself: That is to thank God and trust God, to trust God and to thank God, and to flow. To Flow, To Trust God, and To Thank God.
Not sure if I’m about to append to that, or if I’m merely to supplement it: From my point of view, it does take a more passive, a more responsive than proactive stance.
Here, I’m saying we’re to testify, in and out of season; of our Trust in the Lord, for the good He has done to us.
To the persecutor, we say: Whether Christ is who you claim He is, or not, I do not know.
To the lost, we proclaim: One thing I do know: I once was lost, now I am found.
Was blind, but now, I see.
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:13-15
I initially pasted this verse for the sake of verse 15, specifically where it mentions of ‘defense‘; I always thought he said ‘be ready to testify’ (and I’m assuming it says so in other translations), but he mentions we’re to be ‘prepared’ to present our hope to anyone who asks us for a reason. This was supposed to be in line with the verse I pulled from 1 Timothy.
However, I liked the context, presented in the verses prior – simply because it reminds us of both sides of the ‘coin’ of our salvation in Christ. In a nutshell, we’re not only to naturally flow away from the ‘bad’, or the deathly ways and things our old creation was accustomed to – Peter reminds us that we’re also to be zealous for what is good.
In another point of view, our being passionate about our no longer being blind and lost is matched by our zealousness to see, because we are found. Our testimony, our preaching is as much proactive as it is reactive.
It ought to help us through our real struggles with sin – not only by means of reminding us of our dying to sin, but also by pointing out how we have so much more, and so much better: That is, righteousness unto eternal life.
I ask myself: To testify to the world that I once was lost, but now I see – what does that mean in today’s language?
To me, it means that I’m no longer imprisoned by my own viewpoints, but I am pleasantly brought to more real considerations and perspectives. It means that I’m no longer tied to being sad that things in my past ended the way they did, but now I am thankful that they happened in the first place.
I’m no longer as afraid of accusations and condemnations from man, no longer as afraid of making mistakes, or being ridiculed. I’m no longer afraid of getting things done.
I know that Christ guaranteed that God no longer condemns me, but, by His Spirit, He constantly reminds me of His faithfulness and His love.
I know that perfect love casts out all fear.
There it is: How are you zealous for what is good? Well, you start of by translating your testimony into words of this reality. Now I had more explicit examples of this in my notebook, complete with names… but I suppose there are other things I can say here.
Like recently. I found out that I was once putting so much of my self-esteem on how much money I had in the bank, but now I’m seeing the wisdom of not having wealth, but not having poverty either; I’m seeing Proverbs 30:7-9 in action:
7 Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,
9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?”
or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
I am realizing now how playing games is taking too much of my time… and now, I’m both realizing that taking too much time to play is counterproductive, and that I would actually be respecting myself and the game by taking less time to play. I’m realizing, beyond condemning myself, that in my writing on pen and paper, that there are other more valuable things to get done.
I was once so self-centered. Still am, in some aspects – but now I’m realizing that I value myself by valuing others and caring for others… and vice versa.
Christ didn’t just save me so I’d know what to say.
Christ saved me into true life – a life of true meaning and of infinite value, not having Him as a resource, but as a Partner.
Oh, and I could just go on and on, can’t I? But I think, for the sake of the rest of the day, I’ll go ahead and stop here.
Once we were hopeless, but now we have joy.
Thank You, Father. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Thank You so much, for everything.
To the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Three in One, and One in Three:
Blessed be Your Holy Name, forever and ever!
Until the next post – Which I hope is coming soon – May the Lord continue to bless us all. Amen, and amen.
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