One of your grandmother's favorite verses is the one I use today in class, 2 Timothy 1:7 - "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline." On the plaque she gave me with this verse on it, "discipline" is translated as "sound, well-balanced mind." Regardless of my personal connection to this verse through her, I think it a very important one to consider as we think about our Christian life.
Here, Paul speaks directly to the subject of "who are we, and what are we like?" Because we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are not timid. Oh, we may act that way, but that's not who we really are anymore. Instead, we are powerful (certainly in mind and in faith), we can love (as Christ loves us), and we are disciplined (which refers to, I think, righteousness - doing the right thing even when you don't want to). So, if that's who we are as Christians, why don't we all act that way?
Because, for one, you have to realize that this is true. If you don't know that you have this spirit, then you can't utilize it in your life. That's fixed now, of course, because by the very act of reading this, you know the truth. Also, though we do have these traits, we still have to exercise them. We all have muscles, but we cannot pick up a 100-pound weight unless we train our muscles, use them, strengthen them. That is the same here - we must use our power as Christians to face whatever comes; we must love others truly and not in the superficial and shallow way of the world; we must discipline our minds so that we do what is good and not what is evil.
I encourage you to make this a verse you memorize and carry with you, so that when you need to, you can remind yourself of what you are really like - not the frightened rabbit that the world wants you to be, but the roaring lion that God has made you to be!
Love,
Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment