July 24, 2022
7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
There are three suggested readings for Morning Prayer today, the Sixth Sunday after Trinity. They are Matt 5:38-48; 2Tim 2:7-13, and Rom 4:13-25. I’ve decided we’ll look at 2Timothy – there’s a reason for this. After years uncounted of attending Bible study, I’ve come to the conclusion that for most studies, it takes so long to get through the ‘big four’ (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that we rarely get to look at the other books and so this is a wonderful opportunity to refresh our memories and do a little contemplation.
Timothy is very straight forward in his message – here is the Christ, here is what I have gone through to make you know Him and here are a couple benefits of believing in Him. It doesn’t get any plainer, I don’t think.
But the verse that resonates – for me, at any rate – is 13: “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” We don’t worship Jesus because He needs us to worship Him; He has no ‘need’ of us. He is the second Person of the Godhead whether we believe in Him or not. “He cannot deny Himself” – because He is the I AM. We worship Him because He first loved us; because for our sin he sacrificed Himself; because in Him, through Him, and by Him heaven has been opened for us. And that is worth thinking about.
Words on the Word 