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Paul was writing to Timothy, his spiritual son in the faith, a pastoral letter to arrest his flagging morale in challenging times. He wanted to encourage Timothy during times when there was strong persecution of the church and many believers were wavering in their Christian faith. Paul challenged Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. Timothy had to endure hardship as a good soldier, avoid godless chatter that produce quarrels, flee from evil desires and ensure that God’s Word is diligently taught to believers. These are all attributes of an enduring faith.
This letter is relevant in today’s Christian environment although the threat to our faith is subtler and often deceptively disguised. God does not remove hardship from our lives. He provides us the wisdom to overcome hardship — we go through them and not over them. Paul’s words gave new strength to Timothy and similarly, they can offer strength to us who are weary in our faith today. The kind of physical persecution, like being sawn apart or put to the sword, might be uncommon today for most of us but we can certainly take heed of Paul’s teaching in our varied situation of challenges to our faith.
The threat to our Christian faith today is often very subtle. The spread of technology and many false teachers should make us extra careful about protecting ourselves from venturing into the path of misguided faith. We need a Christian faith firmly founded in biblical teachings and resilient to the many distractions around us. The ever-present plague of materialism and the “one-upmanship” mentality prevailing in today’s culture should make us aware of following ill-advised values taught by modern day gurus. We must stick to the clear teachings in the Bible and to godly teachers who teach the Bible — the Word of God.
An “enduring faith” is one that will last. Paul instructed Timothy: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim. 2:2). We must stand firm and endure unflinchingly in the truth so that at the end of our earthly lives, we can humbly proclaim with Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7). Let us practice “enduring faith” as we stand firm in living for Jesus daily.
