2 Timothy 3:10-17 English Standard Version

¹⁰ You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, ¹¹ my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. ¹² Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³ while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it ¹⁵ and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God^[b] may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Continuing on from yesterday with the thought that we should know the truth, let us begin here.

For most of us verses 16 and 17 might seem enough for supporting the need for reading and understanding the Word of God. We all need to validate what we believe. We must go over the Word time and time again to validate our thoughts and beliefs. We are subjected to errors and lies from many sources, but the Word of God is our source of truth.

What is included here in 10 thru 15 is of important significance because the life lived by faith is evidenced by the outcome. Nothing was done in secret, every point of Paul’s life was well documented by those who traveled with him and ministered with him and to him. A life of faith is the evidence of the degree of understanding we have in truth. It is our validation.

John 14:6a English Standard Version (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” 

Luke 23:26 English Standard Version (ESV) And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.

Nowhere in the synoptic gospels does it actually say that Jesus carried His cross at all, nor that He fell. What we may have seen in movies is a screenwriters attempt to solicit emotional drama in the moment but it is not scriptural. Does anyone teach us that it happened that way?

Jesus was not burdened by Rome to carry His cross, Simon was burdened to do so. What happened that day was meant to lay heavily on our hearts. The burden of love compels us to pick up our cross and bear it. Jesus was not allowed to fall under that weight. When we fall under the weight of it, we feel like we have failed God. We are wrong to feel that way because Jesus never fell down nor does He fall down now.

The world would have us think He fell and failed but it is a lie. When we fall we have not failed, that is a lie. We are human and that weight is too much for any of us to bear. Christ in us has the strength to bear up under the weight of it now, given the opportunity. He is faithful and never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:7 English Standard Version (ESV) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

God is love, Jesus is God, Jesus abides, love abides, and love bears all things.

Our humanity expects to perform to the highest levels of performance and when we fail our own expectations we feel like we have failed God. That is a lie. God knows all things from the beginning to the end. He does not judge us by our own standards, our expectations. God knows the truth in all matters.

We should know the truth also.