A Time is Coming

"Preach the word of God. Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to right teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear." II Timothy 4:1-22

I remember very vividly my last summer as a staff member at the camp I had grown up attending. My time, in that stage of life, was coming to an end. I looked around, as many of my peers had already made their way home and said their good-byes, reflecting on all the memories. That time I was told was coming was almost there. Soon, I would no longer belong. As I faced the reality that time waits for nothing and no one, I felt challenged to make it a life practice to fully embrace every season and every moment God would give me.

Timothy was given that same challenge by his mentor Paul over and over again. At the close of his last letter, Paul told Timothy that Jesus was coming. When he appears, it's over. Judgement day. Now is the only moment you have to tell people the truth of God's word. They need to be corrected. They need to be rebuked. They need to be encouraged. The one tool that accomplishes all of those things is the word of God. He then heightened the urgency by letting Timothy know that even before Jesus returns a time is coming when they will not want to hear God's word. Nope. They will only listen to what they want to hear. So, Timothy, preach!

It's interesting as a pastor the number of things I've been encouraged to preach about over the years. I listen and pray about it. Every time Jesus reaffirms the same message: Preach the word. I can't and won't move from that commitment. All of us claiming Jesus as our Savior are called to be witnesses. We all have a responsibility to accurately handle God's word and to share it in love even in that world Paul told Timothy was coming. If we move from the word of God, we lose our moorings. We end up living in worlds of our own imagination.  

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