Paul’s Last Letter
331
Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with
pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in
my prayers night and day.”
The apostle then urged upon Timothy the necessity of steadfastness
in the faith. “I put thee in remembrance,” he wrote, “that thou stir up
the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For
God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and
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of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God.” Paul entreated Timothy to
remember that he had been called “with a holy calling” to proclaim the
power of Him who had “brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel: whereunto,” he declared, “I am appointed a preacher, and
an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also
suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom
I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I
have committed unto Him against that day.”
Through his long term of service, Paul had never faltered in his
allegiance to his Saviour. Wherever he was—whether before scowling
Pharisees, or Roman authorities; before the furious mob at Lystra, or
the convicted sinners in the Macedonian dungeon; whether reasoning
with the panic-stricken sailors on the shipwrecked vessel, or standing
alone before Nero to plead for his life—he had never been ashamed of
the cause he was advocating. The one great purpose of his Christian
life had been to serve Him whose name had once filled him with
contempt; and from this purpose no opposition or persecution had
been able to turn him aside. His faith, made strong by effort and pure
by sacrifice, upheld and strengthened him.
“Thou therefore, my son,” Paul continued, “be strong in the grace
that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among
many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be
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able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ.”
The true minister of God will not shun hardship or responsibility.
From the Source that never fails those who sincerely seek for divine
power, he draws strength that enables him to meet and overcome
temptation, and to perform the duties that God places upon him. The
nature of the grace that he receives, enlarges his capacity to know God