2 Timothy 3:1-7: Discernment & Wisdom

In 2Timothy3:1-7, Paul instructs us to UNDERSTAND (perceive the significance, explanation, or cause of) a number of real world/real life difficulties & challenges that should be appreciated as “wisdom & discernment markers” for us-> people & things that we need to be aware of/warned of that could lead us away from the Wisdom of God for our mind/heart/life! Paul says->”But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” The last verse does not leave any gray area when he says “Avoid such people”->Avoid the influence of all these things on our mind/heart/life! Dear Jesus,these verses open up to me how much of my mind/heart/life I have allowed to be influenced by these things and the people that obviously have some of these characteristics in their lives. Please let the wisdom & discernment of these verses help me to be always learning about You and Your Word,and always growing closer to arriving at a knowledge of THE TRUTH,& may THE TRUTH about You and Your Ways become integral in every area of my mind/heart/life. And dear Lord, help me to NOT become one of these people that Paul is warning about in these verses!

Ready for every good work - 2Timothy 2:19-21

Paul continues his lessons of Godly Wisdom with Timothy in 2Timothy2:19-21 by teaching us how our mind/heart/will respond if we truly NAME the Lord as THE ONE we trust for our salvation. Paul does this by first quoting Jesus,and then teaching how our mind/heart/life need to respond in order to truly have a sincere TRUST in Christ become who&what we are! 2Timothy2:19-21,.”But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity’.Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable,he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” When we truly trust Christ,our mind/heart/life will be in a persistent course away from iniquity/sin as our walk with The Lord leads us to knowing more & more about His Heart/His Righteousness/His Holiness as He reveals Himself through His Word,His Spirit,& through all of His Creation.As we walk in growing knowledge & awareness of these things our lives will become “vessels for honorable use,set apart as holy,useful to THE MASTER of the house(The Lord),ready for every good work” as we rid our minds/hearts/lives of sin. This begs of me to ask,”am I continually getting further away from iniquity.....are my mind/heart/life becoming a vessel for honorable use and set apart for every good work!!!!!!?????? Or, do am I hanging on to some sins, especially those that I think are secrets! ”Dear Lord Jesus!There are parts of my life that are not on a persistent course that leads me to this kind of preparation in my mind/heart/life! Please...May Your Spirit and Your Word bring every part of my life onto this course for my mind/heart/life to become set apart and prepared to be such a vessel as these verses describe.....!

2Timothy 2:8 - RIGHT Memory & RIGHT Perspective

What we REMEMBER & our PERSPECTIVE on our MEMORY become significant integral parts of who we are,& what we are.This is why so many times in the Bible, God encourages us to be deliberate about remembering RIGHTLY,& making sure that we feed our memory with TRUTH!Paul knows this,and in 2Timothy2:8,Paul says to young Timothy,”Remember Jesus Christ,the offspring of David,as preached in my gospel,for which I am suffering,bound w chains as a criminal.BUT the Word of God(TRUTH) is not bound!”.Satan knows the significance of the condition of our memory and the many ways that this can devastatingly impact our lives! Satan does not want us to be mindful of how significantly important MEMORY is,nor the importance of having a RIGHT MEMORY fed and shaped by TRUTH.Satan has a long history of learning&knowing this & leveraging this,& therefore he has been infiltrating TRUTH with webs of deceptive lies for so long that RIGHT MEMORY & RIGHT PERSPECTIVE have been tainted and twisted to the point that RIGHT TRUTH is unrecognizable most of the time...& we have come to have our lives founded on UNtruths!When this happens in our lives,we have elements in the foundation of our lives that will rot us from the inside,&not stand the tests of time and challenges->(Matthew7:24-27,”Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”).So,Paul tells us to go to the BEDROCK of remembering WHO Jesus is,&where HE came from...through the line of Judah via David,born of of a virgin,immaculately conceived through miraculous intervention by The Father God,living a PERFECT RIGHTEOUS life...taking on the GUILT of SIN for ALL & paying the ultimate penalty of ALL SIN...then conquering death for all who receive HIS PROVISION for ETERNAL LIFE & THE GRACE that provides for every PROMISE of GOD that HE writes in HIS WORD!These TRUTHS are so significant that they must be the foundational elements of every part of shaping our minds/hearts/lives->who and what we are in the process of becoming!HIS Mercy and Grace must not only be received by us,but we must seek to have HIS Mercy & Grace become the shaper of MEMORY TRUTH in our lives,as well as what bathes our memories so they do not become roots of bitterness,regret,envy,and many other types of toxicity in our mind/heart/life.In many social circles,whenever you take a stand for a TRUTH in The Word of God,&/or a Godly ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE...,you may be ridiculed or mocked by many others,making it even more challenging to have our MEMORY & our PERSPECTIVE ON MEMORY shaped by TRUTH.Paul encourages us to bathe our memory with The Truths in the Bible,& The Mercy and Grace of Jesus Christ....so we will be freed from the toxicity of wrong memory and unhealthy memory perspectives, bathed by God’s Eternal Truths,especially HIS Mercy and Grace!Dear Lord,take all of my thoughts and memories....and may Your Truths wash them and shape them by Your Mercy and Grace...so all toxic elements from them are changed by the Power of Your Promises....and I become freed from the deceptions of bitterness,regret,envy,and many other types of toxicity in my mind/heart/life.

THE GOAL - 2Timothy 2:4-7

In 2Timothy2:4-7,Paul gives 3 examples for young Timothy to draw wisdom from that have Eternal significance for life->”No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs - he wants to please his commanding officer.Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor's crown except by competing according to the rules.The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.Reflect on what I am saying, for the LORD will give you insight into all this.”The 1st example is a faithful soldier that is so convinced of the righteousness of his/her commanding officer...so much so that his TRUST in the commanding officer impacts the desires of his/her mind/heart/life so that the decisions and life choices he/she makes are in obedience to the commanding officer,& away from pleasing any other influence.Then Paul offers the example of an athlete that must’ve sought to know what he/she was created to be/what “events” he/she is gifted to invest their mind/heart/life in pursuing->(Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.).This athlete that seeks to know his/her calling will desire to compete fairly/according to the rules of the event...so he/she will become a student of the rule book and train accordingly while steadfastly focusing on THE GOAL!Next is a hard working farmer that diligently takes care of what has been planted....he/she will make sure to properly water & nourish the seed that has been planted,& then regularly remove the weeds from among the growing plants.Then Paul says,”Reflect on what I am saying, for the LORD will give you insight into all this”!This is Paul telling Timothy to purposefully ponder all of these things regularly,while seeking to know what the Lord is saying to him and teaching him through the life disciplines that adhere to these examples.Whether we acknowledge it or not,the disciplines(or lack of) that we apply to our mind/heart/life will ETERNALLY impact of our life and what we ultimately become!Dear Lord,I need Your help in turning my mind/heart/life to purposefully ponder things as these verses teach...and make the course adjustments in my mind/heart/life needed to stay a course true to the GOAL that is the only ONE of ETERNAL significance!

The GRACE that is in Christ Jesus....

When we invite Christ into our life to be our Savior AND Lord,Jesus personally places His Spirit into our life.This is His Grace being gifted to us(unmerited DIVINE ASSISTANCE/STRENGTH given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification;a VIRTUE coming from God;a STATE OF/PROCESS OF sanctification enjoyed through DIVINE ASSISTANCE).This is what Paul is calling Timothy to “be strong in”,in 2Timothy2:1->”You then my son,be strong in the GRACE that is in Christ Jesus.”!Whatever we were before we invite Jesus into our life,Jesus gifts us with OVERWHELMING SUFFICIENT GRACE to become what HE CREATED us to be...what we are MEANT TO BE!Because God is a perfect FATHER with perfect LOVE for us,HE is not going to tie puppet strings to our lives in order for us to become what HIS LOVE gave us life to be fulfilled with and for!HE provides for us to have all the opportunities & ASSISTANCE necessary to first receive HIS Mercies through Christ,& then for us to know&appreciate HIS Graces through Christ’s Spirit that are HIS Strengths/Virtues/Cleansing enabling us to become the only person that we were lovingly created to become by our LOVING Father God...to become the only person that will give us the PEACE AND JOY of finding what we are meant to be!This is why Paul is making a PLEA to Timothy “to be strong in the GRACE that is in Christ Jesus”!Paul is STRONGLY encouraging Timothy to depend on The Strength that Christ has planted in him,too have the Virtues of Christ become his virtues...,so the process of changing from what Timothy previously was toward what Timothy was created to become will occur throughout all of Timothy’s mind/heart/life.We must appreciate not only all of what Christ GIVES us,but it is imperative to also appreciate this PROCESS that Christ’s GIFTS are meant to bless us with...& then turn our mind/heart/life over to HIS GRACES!Dear Lord,I have not appreciated Your Graces....in fact I have allowed myself to be oblivious to Your Graces.Please Help me through Your Graces to have my mind/heart/life vibrantly know and depend on Your Graces for all of my mind/heart/life....help me to “be strong in the GRACE that is in Christ Jesus”!!