2 TIMOTHY 1:8-12 – “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

THEME OF THE DAY: HIM, HIM, HIM. The scripture of the day is particularly significant in the life of the man who penned it – the Apostle Paul.  It was his last letter before a martyr’s death.  It also was deeply personal as he writes to his spiritual son and colleague, Timothy, with final instructions for his life and ministry,

There is something else contained in today’s scripture.  It comes to us from the heart and life of the Apostle Paul, serving us well as an example to observe, and a model to follow.  We witness his confidence and assurance in the Lord Jesus for his future . . .

“Nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12b).

Notice the two words he proclaimed to Timothy and us – believed and persuaded.  Paul’s faith was given and established on the Damascus Road. His conversion, being captured by Christ, cemented an unwavering faith in the Lord Jesus (Acts 9, 22, 26).  Then, as the great apostle labored for the Lord, he experienced time and time again, or we could say, he was persuaded over and over again of the faithfulness of the Lord to him.

This truth is captured well in the following story . . .

“Dr. S. D. Gordon tells of an old Christian woman whose age began to tell on her memory. She had once known much of the Bible by heart. Eventually only one precious bit stayed with her. “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed unto him against that day.” By and by part of that slipped its hold, and she would quietly repeat, “That which I have committed unto him.” At last, as she hovered on the borderline between this and the spirit world, her loved ones noticed her lips moving. They bent down to see if she needed anything. She was repeating over and over again to herself the one word of the text, “Him, Him, Him.””

She had lost the whole Bible, but one word. But she had the whole Bible in that one word.  May that be our testimony as it was for her, and the Apostle Paul – Him, Him, Him.

PRAYER: Father, make Your glorious Son and Your amazing grace the constant fixation in my life.

REFLECTION:  The whole of the Christian life is about Him, only Him, and always Him – the Lord Jesus.