2 Timothy 2

Today’s E100 is full of helpful advice from Paul to Timothy, advice which of course applies to us as well.

 

While reading through today’s passage one verse in particular stuck out to me- Verse 19 (the second part of it!). “All who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.” Seems like such a simple statement and one which could easily be skimmed past… To find a deeper understanding of it lets flip the sentence around…

 

“All those who turn away from evil belong to the Lord.”… NO! Wrong! The great thing about this verse is that God knows that we do evil. It’s no secret that we all have our dark moments, those times where we just do the wrong thing, those instances where we’ve done something and immediately know that it’s not what Jesus would do..We did it from day one in the Garden, and we still do it now. Despite God’s own Son coming down and teaching us so much, we still manage to do evil.

 

This verse is great and Paul gives really good advice through the passage on how to avoid evil, and how to keep pure, but he also gives an amazing statement of grace. Us as Christians belong to Jesus. He has loved us from day one and despite our wicked ways he still loves us. Throughout the whole of history we are the ones who deserve to die for the sinful lives we lead. We have murdered, abused, gossiped, raped, destroyed, deleted, tortured and caused chaos since our short time on this planet. We’ve done it well before Jesus arrived and it still goes on today. Despite that, God loved us so much that he chose to take the punishment on himself, on Jesus. Punishment that we rightly deserve.

 

We sang a new song last Sunday morning. A song I’ve been listening to a huge amount over the past few weeks. Not only does it have a catchy melody but it has such simple but amazing lyrics. I’ll leave you with it to think over them and dwell in the Lords grace..

 

Grace you’ve shown me grace
You’ve lifted my shame
Drawn me with loving kindness
Washed whiter than snow
You have redeemed and made me whole

Jesus you have won me, You’ve broken every chain
With love and mercy
You’ve triumphed over death and you are worthy
Of glory and praise

Love you’ve shown me love
By leaving your throne
By bleeding and dying on a cross, that wonderful cross
That took all my guilt and sin away

Shout it out and lift up one voice in worship
Sing it out until all the earth can hear it 
Jesus is alive and He saves, He rescues and saves