Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal.

Devotion based on 2 Timothy 2:8,9

If your pastor knew he could only say one more thing to you from his deathbed, what do you think he would say?

When the apostle Paul wrote the book of 2 Timothy, he knew he would soon be put to death. Paul longed to see Timothy one more time. But he wrote as if he knew his time was too short for that to happen. Of all the final advice and encouragement Paul gave to Timothy, perhaps none of it is simpler and more important than this one phrase: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.” He was saying, “Timothy, always remember what Jesus has done for you and who he is.”

This was the message that had put Paul in chains. But he wouldn’t have traded that gospel message for the world. Paul’s death-row wish for Timothy was that he would always remember Jesus, the Son of David, risen from the dead for him, too. This was the one thing that mattered most. If Timothy held to faith in the risen Christ, then he and Paul would certainly meet again in heaven.

I’ll bet your pastor would like to say the same thing to you if he only had one sentence left to give you. “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David.” Your Savior’s identity as the chosen Messiah and his work of rising from the dead for you has set you free from sin and death. Because of that, one day, you’ll be able to say it with the same confidence as Paul, “I have finished the race…Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness.”

Prayer: