Based on 2 Timothy 1 (New King James Version)
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason 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 what I have committed to Him until that Day. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day—and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.”
We live in an age where everything is wanted right away, that everything needs to occur instantaneously and to a person’s liking. Many have titled this phenomenon we are living as a microwave society. The idea behind this is that as many of you know, a microwave supposedly cooks everything much faster than a conventional cook-top or fire. Instead of waiting many minutes or hours, many things in the microwave are cooked in a few minutes or even heated in seconds. And we have become so impatient that we even stand by waiting while the seconds count down and we open the door before the timer expires because even those few seconds seem like an eternity. Many people want everything handed to them and right away. Quite simply, there is no patience for anything.
This issue that everything is required right away and to our liking translates to nearly every aspect of life, like when young people start their very first jobs, and they want to get paid very well right away and they want raises right away instead of waiting for some time pass while they begin acquiring experience, because what is interesting is that they want a lot of money, but many of them know very little. This impatience also translates to marriage. At the first sign of difficulty, many marriages are ended. In the US, the majority of divorces occur within the first 8 years. According to Wilkinson and Finkbeiner (a law firm in California), 50% of all marriages end in divorce, although the percentage has decreased a bit because many people are opting to just live together. In the US, a divorce occurs every 13 seconds. Following that statistic, nine divorces occur during the time it takes for one couple to recite their wedding vows (approx. 2 minutes). And there is a long list of other examples of impatience and lack of dedication.
This problem finally translates to the things that have to do with the Lord. Today, a gospel is preached where God practically must render like a form of customer service, and of course, when the customer wants things and how they want things. And if God does not do things to their liking, they abandon Him and they look in other things where they think they will be catered to. It’s because of this kind of behavior and disposition is that many people abandon the faith, or they create some sort of belief system that is subject to their opinion, but there is simply no faithfulness to the Lord. Practically, the majority of people do as they want and desire but are far from remaining faithful to the Lord. Even more so, and as we saw in today’s passage, we saw all kinds of different people mentioned. We saw some people that abandoned Paul like everyone that was with him in Asia, like Phygellus and Hermogenes. The Lord clarified things like this: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14. The problem that many find is the progress of time, and when they begin to find challenges along the way. The issue is that it is easier to follow the things of the world and to do those things that lead to destruction like we just read. No one likes difficulty, and good costs a lot of work, effort, care, dedication, and yes, even sacrifice. Many lose their patience with time, and for many different reasons. Many abandon the Way when they see that they have to do what the Lord says rather than being able to do what they want. Many abandon the things of God when they see a long and hard road ahead, when things become difficult, when persecution and condemnation start, when God supposedly does not fulfill their petitions like they want, or when the world starts looking more appetizing than the Lord’s things. Quite simply, they leave the narrow path because other things take priority over any kind of feeling or idea they have of God. And many times, people make the mistake in thinking that abandoning the Lord consists in denying the faith completely. Abandoning the Lord consists also in not following Him. That is also true abandonment, because we have to pursue and walk with the Lord; we need to follow Him, as it is written: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10:37-38. The Lord is always in motion, doing different things, and to be able to be with Him, we need to follow Him, not just believe in Him, and even less, become stagnant and expect for God to leave His way for us. This is very different to what is preached commonly.
And as an ending, we see another group of people that did follow the Lord and remained faithful until the end. We saw this Timothy that becomes one of the principal leaders of the local church, but thanks to the faithfulness of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. When seeing this, we can understand that faithfulness creates a chain through time, a chain that the Lord started, and was followed by the Apostles and the disciples, and these brought others to the Lord by remaining faithful, and so on until now. If we remain faithful to the Lord until our time is fulfilled here, we will form part of this great chain that God desires to make through eternity, that what we do here remains forever in perpetuity and before the great throne of God. So then, have you thought about just how important it is for both you and those that surround you that you remain faithful to the Lord all the days of your life, fulfilling His great and eternal purpose? Lord bless! John