Confidence (DEV)

2 Timothy Chapter 1

He was distressed over the filth on the vehicle. It had been weeks since he had enough time on a Saturday to wash the car, and it showed. Some kid had drawn "wash me" in the grime on the back hatch and there were kid pictures on the sides of the car, where a pallet of dirt had become a six-year-old's art gallery. It was time for the sponge and a hose.

Stuart started with the roof and he even used a step-stool so he could reach every spot. His curious pattern made certain that he would cover everything twice. He used a toothbrush to get the tough spots on the old alloy wheels. He wiped inside the door frames with a rag and Armor All. When he was done, the car was spotless. It was something of which to be proud.

His kids, though they didn't like the grime, thought that washing it was a waste of time. They just couldn't appreciate Stuart's old station wagon. It was old. It had fake wood on the bottom half of all of the doors and quarterpanels. It was uncool in every way.

Periodically they would implore him to part with it. "Dad. Can't we get rid of that car?"

It was at this point that Stuart would expound upon the dozens of virtues to this particular model of station wagon. He would go on and on about the high miles, the low maintenance, the variety of jobs it could do. He could quote all of the dealer's statistics from out of the showroom brochure that he still had in a file down in the basement. Finally, he would end with, "It's paid for and I don't want to spend any more money." The kids could never find a good argument to counter that point. They just wanted a better way to get around town even though the station wagon was adequate.

Surrounding us right now are all of the world's "better ways." There is the better way to lose weight. There is the better way to invest your earnings. There is a better way to shop, a better way to exercise and dozens of better ways to cook your food. But there is no better way to live than in living your life for God. You do not have to be, nor should you be, humble to the point of sheepishness when it comes to talking about your faith. You should be proud of your faith in a humble way.

Paul instructs Timothy from a prison cell in today's Scripture passage. His words are eternally useful. Paraphrased, they go something like this: "We are going to suffer humiliation and appear foolish at times for the sake of our faith. But Christ was disgraced beyond belief for us and he CONQUERED DEATH...so the joke is on my captors. When you are disgraced, remember that God doesn't want you to cower down timidly. You have the power of the Holy Spirit at your side and you have love and self-discipline, which they do not. The playing field is not level. We win in the end!"

Can you live that out today? Can your faith stand firm in the midst of an entire world screaming out false hope about better ways? Can you know that their hope is false hope, fleeting hope, losing hope? Pray for courage today, and for the ever-present knowledge that Jesus Christ stood and still stands for the best way of all.