A Thought For The Week Of October 24, 2016

"For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near." (2 Timothy 4:6) I want to reflect on two separate passages (2 Timothy 4:6-8 & 16-18) which may be separated by several verses but which are quite similar in a number of ways. I find myself linking this with Paul's statement in Philippians that he had learned how to be content in all circumstances. What we have described here are basically two sets of circumstances - both of which could have been enough to cause many people to fall into despair and give up. In the first, the author seems to be reflecting on his impending death, and the inference is that it isn't a pleasant or natural death. He is being poured out like a drink offering. In other words, he sees himself as a sacrifice; perhaps a martyr. And yet, rather than despair, he looks back on his life - and especially his faith - and he expresses not despair, but satisfaction: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept that faith." Having remained faithful in the face of whatever was happening to him, he now realized that his life had been worthwhile. And he also expressed hope in what many would have considered a hopeless situation: "Now there is laid up for me ..." NOW! What a great expression of faith and hope. Death is here - so "now!" Something else is coming. What a great testimony! And in the second snippet we have another circumstance described that could have embittered many people. The author had been abandoned - "everyone deserted me." Apparently even those he thought would stand with him abandoned him. (There are shades of Jesus and the disciples there.) Many would be embittered at being abandoned by those they believed they could count on, but the author just expresses forgiveness: "May it not be held against them." People are, after all, weak - and the truth is that not everyone can stand against evil.  Some fall. But for the author - God was there, and that was enough. Many scholars believe that Paul didn't write 2 Timothy, but at the very least these words resonate with one of Paul's most important and most challenging messages: "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Whatever the circumstances, in other words. If only we all had such faith.