2
Timothy 2:7
Think about the big stories dominating the headlines for the
past couple months. Those stories have
included accounts of terrorist attacks on iconic sporting events, buildings
collapsing on workers, tornados destroying homes and killing men, women, and
children going about their daily routines, trains crashing, bridges falling, and
the list could go on. No wonder some of
us might feel just a little unsteady.
And no wonder Paul’s
young protégé Timothy may have felt a little unsteady. His may have been worrying about failing as a
minister; he may have dreaded the ire of the Roman authorities; he may have
been concerned for his health. We don’t
know.
In any case, Paul’s words remind him and us that we don’t have
to feel unsteady, that a life permeated by apprehension is not what God
intended for us. “God,” he says, “has
not given us a spirit of fear.” The word
could be translated “cowardice.” What
Paul told Timothy lets us know that the Christian faith isn’t just for the
‘sweet by and by,’ it’s for the not so sweet here and now.
This is a reality because of the work of the Holy Spirit
within us. The verse either means that
the Spirit so transforms our personalities that we won’t be dominated by fear
or that possessing the Spirit makes fear a contradictory emotion. In either case, the Spirit enables us to
display this fearfree nature.
Though these may be unsteady days, we don’t have to be unsteady.
I
WE MAY STAY STEADY IN UNSTEADY TIMES
WITH COMPETENCE
You may start to feel unsteady when you think you’re unequal
to the task.
It’s a problem we may face at any age and at any time. But it’s a real problem during unsteady
times. You may wonder if you will be
able to handle changes and challenges that these times bring. Will you be able to balance your budget or
pay your bills? Sometimes you may wonder
if you can handle a job change, learn the new tasks, and get along with a new
gang of co-workers. Start feeling
unsteady in a situation like this and you’ll approach the situation with the
sense that failure is inevitable, that success is not an option, that you won’t
be able to do what needs to be done.
It’s a feeling which has caused some to say “no” to
opportunities to serve God in the church and elsewhere. It’s a feeling that makes you say “why
bother” when you have to face new challenges.
We don’t have to succumb to that fear.
The word “power” implies more than just raw, untamed
energy. It means the capacity to
accomplish what needs to be accomplished.
Timothy faced the task of leading the Ephesian church
through some of the most difficult years in its history. Aware of this, Paul used one word which told
him, “With God’s help you can do it.”
Certainly we can apply this principle to doing the work of
the church, but I believe it also lets us know that God will enable us to do
what we fear is impossible to do, to face the challenge we never expected,
never wanted.
II
WE MAY STAY STEADY IN UNSTEADY TIMES
WITH CONFIDENCE.
Does it seem strange to include love in the list of
resources to help us stay steady?
We know better, but when we face troubles in times like
this, we may begin to think God has stopped loving us.
Paul wants us to know we can be confident of God’s
love. His love abides.
Nothing life throws at us can separate us from the love of
God.
In another context, Paul spoke about this love. His words have inspired martyrs,
missionaries, and simple saints for centuries.
They’re found in Romans 8.
35. Can anything ever
separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have
trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or
threatened with death?
36. (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake
we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep."* )
37. No, despite all these things, overwhelming
victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
We can keep on because we know the love of God remains
unchanged.
English poet Edith Sitwell was born into a wealthy,
aristocratic home. She was a bright
child but singularly unattractive; she knew she was unattractive because her
mother told her.
Whenever she voiced her fear that she would be alone in the
world, that no one would ever want her as a wife, her father would say, “Don’t
worry, you will be taken care of.”
That became the title of her autobiography. But God’s love promises more than being “taken
care of” physically. It involves the assurance
of fellowship with God and with God’s own people. It involves knowing we are loved and important
to God. It involves being able to face life
with confidence.
There may be something else here as well. It may be that Paul is reminding Timothy that
the Spirit allows us to love those we may fear.
This is important because we often come to hate those we fear. Such fear is often at the root of racism or any
prejudice; God enables us to love the different, the seemingly menacing. Such love allows missionaries to walk into strange
cultures that others would dread to enter.
III
WE MAY STAY STEADY IN UNSTEADY TIMES
WITH CALMNESS
Unsteady times can throw our thoughts into a whirl. We can’t think straight. We can’t even make clear decisions about what
to do next.
God can give what we need to make the right decisions as we
face frightening situations.
Some translations render the last statement as “discipline,”
a word we more often associate with our outward behavior. The familiar “spirit
of a sound mind” is closer to the meaning but we usually associate a sound mind
with freedom from mental illness.
An unsound mind is a frightening thing.
Occasionally we read stories of some individual who as
retreated into their house to escape a fearful world. Relatives might bring them groceries
occasionally but otherwise they have no human contact. Sometimes they are found only because neighbors
report strange smells or sounds. When
authorities investigate they may find mountains of garbage and trash, kept
because the man or woman living in the house was afraid to take it outside to
the curb. Or there may be rooms filled
with items taken from other people’s trash during night time forays through the
neighborhood, trips made when no one would be watching. Neighbors may have known someone lived in the
house but they had never met them.
Most people will never suffer that kind of mental illness
but we still sometimes allow our thinking to get out of control, to be so
undisciplined that we cultivate thinking which encourages fear and panic.
What Paul is suggesting as an antidote to the spirit of fear
is discipline in our thought-processes.
I think this is one of the most important resources for
facing fearful days. Clarity of thought
is so necessary as we face stressful, frightening situations.
You may be facing some challenge during these unsteady times
and you feel like running, screaming into the night. You don’t have to.
God can give you the calmness and clarity of thought you
need to survive.
This kind of thinking allows you to question the conspiracy
theorists who would have you distrusting everyone.
This kind of thinking allows you to realize that your
situation isn’t really the one situation in the entire universe in which God is
incapable of doing anything.
CONCLUSION
Timothy faced the possibility of Roman soldiers knocking on
his door at midnight and taking him away as an enemy of the state. It was an unsteady time.
The problems which most often make us feel unsteady are more
common place.
Isn’t it good to know that God has given us the resources to
face these days?
