Every
word, sentence, paragraph, chapter and book of the Bible is the word of God and
very important. However, some portions of Scripture may at times hold more
interest than others.
Paul
here speaks of perilous, hard, difficult times ahead. Times of great stress
demands much of the preacher. The apostle predicts what will come in the last
days. Paul lists specific evils that will mark the last days. Men will be
lovers of themselves, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure more than lovers
of God. They will be void of natural family love; children will be disobedient
to parents as in the early days of backsliding man- Rom. 1:30.
In
these difficult days ahead, the apostle says men will be boasters, proud,
blasphemers, unthankful and unholy. They will be irreconcilable, either
refusing to make peace or failing to keep a trace once it is made. Men will
also be false accusers, slanderers and will not have self control, they will be
brutal and savage and the worst is that many of these people will claim to be
religious.
These
religious men with empty professions are not without their leaders. Their
prophets know how to worm their way into the homes and lives of the simple.
Among them, Paul says are silly women loaded down with sin and driven by
various lusts. They are curious to know religious to know religious teachings
but lack the ability to arrive at truth and stay with it. The false religious
leaders of the difficult times ahead resist the truth as men of the past.
With
the revelation that evil men and imposters will increase in the land, deceiving
and being deceived, Paul tells Timothy to stay true to his word. From infancy,
Timothy's mother had taught him the Bible and today's parents ought to follow
suit. What others taught him from the book was the source of Timothy's
salvation, though his early teachers were Jewish, they prepared him to accept
Jesus as Messiah upon hearing the gospel.
Timothy was the product of teaching and
training in a godly home. The training of children can be compared to building
of bridge. A bridge is an extension to a new territory in the same way that new
experiences are extension of the growing process. Some of these bridges that
our children should be helped to build are- a bridge of salvation (by helping
them experience eternal life and bringing them closer to God); a bridge of self
worth (healthy sense of self worth, encouragement from parents, and helping
them to see their reflection of self in the mirror of the family); a bridge to
self discipline (children are naturally self centered and self willed, hence
parents need to bring them to obedience. Discipline is an expression of parental love and
concern- Prov. 13:24 and the purpose of parental discipline is to develop self
discipline and submission to the will of God, which as they grow up, the
parents gradually release them to their own self control of the Holy Spirit).
The
word of God is from the mouth of God. He inspired the writing of all truths,
whether historical, theological or moral. All that is contained in the Bible is
profitable for teaching, for refutation of error, for correction to those who
have fallen and for instruction in righteousness.
Timothy's
ministry includes reproof in effort to convince. In doing so, it is appealing
to reason. At times, he is to rebuke and correct with authority. He is to also
exhort his audience to affect their will and all these must be done in long-suffering
and careful teaching. The apostle tells Timothy that a day would come when they
would no longer desire to hear the true teaching but will seek false teachers
to teach them what they want to hear and
they will turn their ears from the truth to lies. In the midst of all these, Timothy
is advised to ''watch''.
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