1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction.

3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Alex Chen

Jesus changes how we should value truth and continue to share it even when our world doesn’t want to hear it. Paul has such a fatherly encouragement to Timothy to hold fast to the truth and keep proclaiming it, even when people only want to listen to what suits them. We might look out at the world and point fingers at greedy corporations or progressive politics and say, “they are closing their ears to the truth.” But it matters even in our homes. We too are in danger of only paying attention to things that suit our itching ears or our own desires, and closing our ears to harder truths. It might be finding self-value in status, money, or job fulfilment. We don’t just need small changes in these areas. We have died to the old self that sinfully put these above God, so we must live new risen lives.

I often thought preaching the word in season and out of season meant a taking loud, bold stance. But it’s more about the everyday – faithfully and consistently holding onto the gospel. Our decisions in small things making it easier to make decisions at big moments. Our character in small situations will make it clear in big clashes what truth we stand for. This is being prepared in season and out of season. We won’t always be given a few days to prepare a speech.

Often, the hard part is where Paul says to do this with “patient instruction.” We can be so zealous and bold for the truth that we forget that it’s a person in front of us who is being corrected, rebuked, and encouraged. When we just want the truth to be upheld, it can be hard to use our words wisely, love the person, and exercise self-restraint instead of being harsh. It helps to humbly remember that we too are sinners who need correction, and we all want to run the race together. Remember that Jesus will ultimately judge and will return to bring us to glory.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex is one of our Student Ministers.