Keep the Faith

In the book of 2 Timothy, we find Paul writing a letter to Timothy—a fellow missionary and close friend.

Many Bible scholars believe that this was the last letter Paul wrote before his death, and that he wrote it from a Roman prison cell. Reflecting on his own life and believing that his death was coming soon, Paul writes a powerful passage:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:7 NIV

Faithful. 

Paul was faithful to God and, without end, God was faithful to Paul. Shipwrecked. Stoned. Abandoned by friends. Imprisoned. The list of what Paul ‌suffered goes on and on. But he ‌persevered. He ‌remained steadfast in his devotion to Christ. 

When you think about your life, what do you want to be able to say at the end?

In Paul, we see an example of what it can look like to cling to faith in Christ. He knew what it meant to be dependent on Him for everything. He drew his strength from God, knowing he couldn't do it without ...

“After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the ...