Thoughts for the Day
Thursday, 21st September 2023: Learning the faith
Paul Timothy Teaching Bible 2 Timothy 3
Reading : Verses from 2 Timothy, Chapter 3
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)
Thoughts
Our reading today is from Paul's second letter to Timothy. Paul is in prison in Rome and is alone, except for Luke. He longs to see Timothy again, and he knows his own end is in sight, but he does not fear that the race is almost run, nor is he in doubt that his reward awaits him.
Timothy was the child of a mixed marriage - his mother being Jewish, and his father Greek. He seems to have met Paul on the latter's first missionary journey in Lystra in modern day Turkey, and was to become his constant, loyal, trusted, and greatly loved companion. Now Paul has some last words of advice for Timothy, a man who has considerable faith but is not naturally very brave.
Paul reminds Timothy to remember what he has learnt from childhood from his grandmother and mother - that is Lois and Eunice, respectively - from the 'sacred writings'. These writings are of course, the Hebrew scriptures, our Old Testament. He reminds Timothy that 'all scripture is inspired by God' and equips us 'for every good work'.
It's no different for us, today. We too are influenced by those who taught us our earliest lessons about God, and also continued by our own study of God's word. May we keep on learning about Him and what He wants for our life, and make our Bible so well used that it finally falls apart and we need a new one!
Prayer
Lord God,
You have called us,
and we are Yours.
May we constantly learn
more about You
and Your will for us,
and for all Your people.
Help us to continue growing
and maturing as christians,
so that we become worthy
of being called Your children.
Amen.
If you would like to learn more about Timothy, this article is interesting:
If you need a new modern-text bible, what about using the free online bible produced by Bible Gateway? I use New Revised Standard Version (Anglicised), but there are many others to choose from, some more accurate than others: