Giving Up
"Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me...Do your best to get here before winter" (2 Timothy 4:9-11, 21).
I've been thinking about Paul lately, and all the challenges he faced in ministry. Paul was frequently in prison, his life was often in danger (one time he was let down over the city walls in a basket so that he could escape a group who was wanting to kill him), and he never knew who he could trust. In what is most likely his last letter (2 Timothy), he writes pretty openly to his dear friend about some of those struggles, some of those difficult times. Demas was once a friend, but left the faith and left Paul. Then there were the enemies. Alexander, a metalworker, caused a great deal of harm to Paul (either to himself personally or to his ministry—or both!). And while he had friends, they were often far off attending to their own ministries. In this passage, when Paul is most likely in prison, only Luke, his personal physician, is with him. You can almost hear the desperation and the longing in Paul's voice as he asks Timothy to come visit him, preferably before winter.
Paul was alone and he was lonely. Paul, most likely, was facing death very soon. He even hints at that in this letter: "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near" (4:6). So what kept him going? Why didn't he just give up, quit, go home and live out his days in peace and obscurity?
I would guess there were some days even Paul himself didn't know the answer to that question. Well, he knew, but he struggled to find the answer some days. In the passage above, he tells Timothy that all of these struggles are okay because he knows, deep within himself, that he has done what God has called him to do. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (4:7). He could go on because he was certain of his calling.
Today's world is no less oppositional to the message of the Gospel than was Paul's—and sometimes, the strongest opposition today comes from within the church. When we lose sight of why we do what we do, it's easy to begin to fuss and fight and focus on relatively unimportant issues. On both sides, it's easy to become discouraged and want to give up. What kept Paul going was his constant focus on the mission. In the end, for Paul (and for us), it wasn't about him and it wasn't about his circumstances. It was about the mission. It was and is about Christ.
I've been thinking about Paul lately, and all the challenges he faced in ministry. Paul was frequently in prison, his life was often in danger (one time he was let down over the city walls in a basket so that he could escape a group who was wanting to kill him), and he never knew who he could trust. In what is most likely his last letter (2 Timothy), he writes pretty openly to his dear friend about some of those struggles, some of those difficult times. Demas was once a friend, but left the faith and left Paul. Then there were the enemies. Alexander, a metalworker, caused a great deal of harm to Paul (either to himself personally or to his ministry—or both!). And while he had friends, they were often far off attending to their own ministries. In this passage, when Paul is most likely in prison, only Luke, his personal physician, is with him. You can almost hear the desperation and the longing in Paul's voice as he asks Timothy to come visit him, preferably before winter.
Paul was alone and he was lonely. Paul, most likely, was facing death very soon. He even hints at that in this letter: "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near" (4:6). So what kept him going? Why didn't he just give up, quit, go home and live out his days in peace and obscurity?
I would guess there were some days even Paul himself didn't know the answer to that question. Well, he knew, but he struggled to find the answer some days. In the passage above, he tells Timothy that all of these struggles are okay because he knows, deep within himself, that he has done what God has called him to do. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (4:7). He could go on because he was certain of his calling.
Today's world is no less oppositional to the message of the Gospel than was Paul's—and sometimes, the strongest opposition today comes from within the church. When we lose sight of why we do what we do, it's easy to begin to fuss and fight and focus on relatively unimportant issues. On both sides, it's easy to become discouraged and want to give up. What kept Paul going was his constant focus on the mission. In the end, for Paul (and for us), it wasn't about him and it wasn't about his circumstances. It was about the mission. It was and is about Christ.
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