Letters #12

When he allowed himself to think about it, he had to admit that his life had been difficult. It had been everything His Lord Jesus had predicted. Jesus had told Ananias —the man who first met with Paul after his being blinded on the road to Damascus—Jesus informed Ananias he would show Paul “how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:16). Being Jesus’ “chosen instrument” came with a price tag, and as he reflected back on his journey, it had been high.

Now, sitting in an underground stone pit at centuries old Mamertine prison, he was well aware his difficult life would end difficultly. Over 4 of the last 5 years, he’d been in various prisons – in Jerusalem, in Caesarea, on various ships, and in Rome…twice. Released for a short time after the first incarceration the Romans snatched him again in Asia, and this time his life was in hands of unpredictable Nero…or was it in God’s hands?

“It’s shameful,” many were saying. “If he were truly God’s servant, his life would not be so checkered with trouble!” they taunted. A good number of his former colleagues were now keeping their distance. They had no interest in being associated with--little desire to be identified with someone on death row. He was damaged goods. Anyway, he was about to die.

But he needed to write a letter to his son, Timothy, who himself was under load. Living in the Roman empire as a Christian – no matter where – was getting more and more difficult. And Timothy needed to hear, again, from his father.

Before we open Paul’s 2nd letter, might I ask you if your life – as a Christian – is difficult?

Oh I know this has been a difficult year. COVID pandemic, a volatile economy, social unrest, violence, angry finger-pointing. In Iowa a severe drought, and then a tree-busting, power-line snapping, truck-tossing, corn-flattening derecho. Some of you have COVID; some of you have cancer. Some of you have lost your job to the economy, or your spouse to death, or your health to the relentless aging process.

But what I’m wondering is if your life has been difficult as a Christian. Difficult because you believe in and follow Jesus Christ? Difficult because you dare to affirm the Bible is God’s Word, that Jesus is God’s Saving-Messiah, that our Creator (the Revealer of truth) calls on all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel and begin following Christ. And Christ alone! And that—being a Christian who is a following disciple– well it has made life (even more) difficult.

I’m wondering if your life as a Christian is getting harder.

From that prison, Paul would write his last letter. A letter which answers this question for his spiritual son –
When navigating increasingly difficult days what’s the Lord’s call in the lives of His servants?
Paul’s answer?

It is to unashamedly influence your generation with God’s truth, especially the gospel.

Even from his compromised, difficult position, Paul’s pen throbs with challenge. He gets it that his life is tough; he gets it that Timothy’s life is difficult. All right…it is what it is. Yep, the world wants to set us “back on our heels” with its trouble and its opposition. But back-on-our-heels is not where the Holy Spirit calls and equips God’s children and God’s servants to be. Our call is to unashamedly influence…with God’s truth…and especially the life-changing gospel about Jesus!