One of my goals this year was to read through the entire Bible. It has been a few years since I have done that, so I have really enjoyed re-discovering these Letters from God. I am still on track; right now I am starting Titus. When I was reading in 2 Timothy there were some familiar verses that jumped out at me in a new way so I wanted to share my thoughts on them.
Here is 2 Timothy 1:12, paraphrased by Lauren ;)
This is why I continue to accept the suffering of this present life, for I know and am well acquainted with Him Whom I have believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on) and I am completely persuaded, convinced, and assured that He is able to guard, protect, and keep that which I have committed to Him until His perfect timing.
In essence, this life can be very difficult and often brings suffering which can be hard to bear at times, but the faith we have in Christ, the absolute trust in Him and assurance that He will provide and protect is what will carry us through.
And here is 2 Timothy 2:24-26:
And the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome. Instead he must be kind to everyone and mild-tempered; he must be a skilled and suitable teacher, patient and forbearing and willing to suffer wrong. He must correct his opponents with courtesy and gentleness, in the hope that God may grant that they will repent and come to know the Truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape out of the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him, to do God's will.
We must have the correct response to those "opponents" in our life. For example, those people we may have to interact with on a daily basis who might not see things from our perspective, who undermine our abilites and decisions, who challenge our relationship/communication skills, and are in general, difficult to get along with! We must not retaliate, but we must pray that God will open their understanding and give us creativity in relating to them...and patience, too.
And when I say "we" I mean "I."
These are just some of my thoughts...they may or may not apply to you at this time, but I'm sharing them anyway! Do you have any thoughts to share?
{{{Hugs}}}
1 comment:
These are good. I think I'd do well to be reminded of them on a daily basis! :)
The ones that have meant a lot to me recently are Phil 3:13 "forgetting those things which are behind..."
and 2 Cor 5:17
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
-- Particularly the latter.
I know I know them in my head, but sometimes it's so hard to actually take hold of them and put them into practice. But it's sure a lot easier to live with myself if I can actually wake up every morning and be a new person -- the real me -- without having to drag around the baggage of all my past missteps, mistakes, and downright failures.
(Amen & hallelujah!) ;)
Hang in there...
Love, ~ B.
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