Good morning. Paul tells
Timothy to guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty
chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge – which
some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Not just Timothy but
all Christians have something entrusted to us - the proclaiming of the Gospel.
It is also good advice to avoid worldly and empty chatter. Nothing good can
come from it; but a lot of bad can. It can seep into our own way of speaking.
Remember that bad company corrupts good morals. It seldom works the other way
around. Unbelievers think that they have this special knowledge that we don't
have, and that we are dumb to believe the gospel. Even Christians get sucked
into this type of discussion, and eventually come to believe what these
unbelievers are saying. They then try to get other believers to believe their
unbelief. That is the end of first Timothy. In second Timothy Paul reminds him
to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in him through the laying on of
Paul's hands. It is easy to let the fire go out, especially with all the things
that are going on in our lives and in the world. It is up to us to kindle those
gifts anew. Father thank You that the reader avoids worldly and empty chatter. He/she
kindles afresh the gift of God within him/her daily.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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