10 You, however, have observed my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my perseverance, 11 my persecutions, and the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Adam Davies

In the previous reading, Paul has just warned Timothy about people who will manipulate and abuse their power to gain from others. But how does Timothy know Paul himself isn't just like that as well!? How do we know that those who teach and disciple us aren't manipulating us or abusing their power for their own gain.

Well, it seems like we can discover that by doing life together. When we do life together, like Timothy saw for Paul, we see the shape of the lives of our leaders and teachers and mentors. Look at that list in verse 10 and 11. Timothy has seen it all! Everything about Paul – his teaching, yes, but also his conduct, his purpose, his faith in Christ, his character or patience, love and perseverance. He's seen that Paul is the real deal, willing even to suffer for the sake of living a godly life and proclaiming the gospel.

I'm so thankful that our ministers open their homes and share their lives with us, and that we know and spend time with their families. We get to know what kind of people they are, and see that their walk matches their talk. There might be some really smart, talented bible teachers online, but we don't know them or their lives, and that's dangerous. How can we know that they're the real deal? I'm keen to be taught and discipled by those leaders we know, whose lives match up in honouring Christ, and I feel at peace that I'm not missing out on anything I need for life and godliness. Praise God for giving us a church family and great leaders who we can share life with, so that we don’t just talk the talk, but together we walk the walk of the Christian life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a member of our Fairfield Morning congregation.