A Father's Love

2 Timothy 4:1-8

 

 

 

The story has been told about a teenager in high school who played on the baseball team. He desperately wanted his father to be proud of him, but his dad never came to his games.

 

It was the final game of the season and his school was playing for the championship. The score was tied in the bottom of the ninth with two men out. He was the last chance for his team. He hit the ball deep into the outfield and began to run the bases. The crowd went wild. As he rounded third and headed for home he heard a familiar voice above all the rest, “That’s my son”! Dressed in a suit, his Dad had come to see him play.

 

The need for our father’s love and affirmation resonates deeply within me. Paul was Timothy’s spiritual father, and he had put Timothy in charge of the church at Ephesus when he continued on his fourth missionary trip. Today’s passage comes from the second letter that Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage him.

 

First, he gives him a warning: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

 

We can see this type of scenario taking place today in our own world. Preachers who craft their sermons so as not to offend anyone in the congregation. Besides this warning, Paul gives Timothy this advice:

 

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction”. What better tool to use than God’s Word. But be sure to note that Paul instructs Timothy to do so with great patience and careful instruction

 

Finally, Paul gives the punch line. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing”.

 

Paul uses himself as an example. Finish the job. Stay focused. Don’t be distracted from the prize. The goal for Timothy, for the Ephesians and for you and me is to finish well.

 

Like the young man who desperately needed his father’s love, we strive for the goal. In so doing, we can see our Heavenly Father waiting for us, even cheering us on. And, like the father in the stands, He is shouting with love in his voice, “That’s my son! That’s my daughter!”