"The first time I was brought before the judge, no one was with me. Everyone had abandoned me....But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength....Hurry so you can get here before winter." (2 Timothy 4, NLT)
I had lunch with Andrew yesterday, the day of reading this text. There were two secretaries from the college in the restaurant. Later, he told me that one of them seemed so very lonely. She had just lost her mother and had no other family, seemed lost. I wanted to go back in the restaurant and do something, listen, attempt comfort, whatever; she had left. There are so many "out there" like her.
Many religious people are like that Polish student who was in a Bible conference where I was teaching during the communist era. "Paul would never have been like that." Of course not; most religious people need heroes who have no problems. Yet Paul had been abandoned by, "everyone," in a way that most of us have never known. If we read this last Epistle without religious glasses, we see a human being who knew what loneliness was like, "Hurry so you can get here before winter," and I don't think, as some, that he just needed, "the coat I left with Carpus at Troas." He needed a friend.
Sometimes in life, the abandonment is imagined and not real. In those few cases, however, where it is real, you and I need to have our "antennae" out. What about you today? Is there an, "Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm...?" Is there in your life a sense of, "Everyone abandoned me"? I don't mean to sound corny, but I haven't. Sometimes we just have to reach out to others and not expect everyone to know just what is going on in our lives. Seek out in your local Church some brother/sister in Jesus who just may be willing to be with you in difficult times.
Nevertheless, I so very strongly bring our attention to, "But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength...." This is Jesus, "The Lord [who] is My Shepherd....Yea, though....everyone abandoned [you]."
Father, in Jesus' Name, in the Holy Spirit keep me "alert." Amen.
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* Please pray for Sarah. She injured her leg over a month ago, and is having much discomfort.
I had lunch with Andrew yesterday, the day of reading this text. There were two secretaries from the college in the restaurant. Later, he told me that one of them seemed so very lonely. She had just lost her mother and had no other family, seemed lost. I wanted to go back in the restaurant and do something, listen, attempt comfort, whatever; she had left. There are so many "out there" like her.
Many religious people are like that Polish student who was in a Bible conference where I was teaching during the communist era. "Paul would never have been like that." Of course not; most religious people need heroes who have no problems. Yet Paul had been abandoned by, "everyone," in a way that most of us have never known. If we read this last Epistle without religious glasses, we see a human being who knew what loneliness was like, "Hurry so you can get here before winter," and I don't think, as some, that he just needed, "the coat I left with Carpus at Troas." He needed a friend.
Sometimes in life, the abandonment is imagined and not real. In those few cases, however, where it is real, you and I need to have our "antennae" out. What about you today? Is there an, "Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm...?" Is there in your life a sense of, "Everyone abandoned me"? I don't mean to sound corny, but I haven't. Sometimes we just have to reach out to others and not expect everyone to know just what is going on in our lives. Seek out in your local Church some brother/sister in Jesus who just may be willing to be with you in difficult times.
Nevertheless, I so very strongly bring our attention to, "But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength...." This is Jesus, "The Lord [who] is My Shepherd....Yea, though....everyone abandoned [you]."
Father, in Jesus' Name, in the Holy Spirit keep me "alert." Amen.
******************
* Please pray for Sarah. She injured her leg over a month ago, and is having much discomfort.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
