December 11 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

2 Timothy 1:1-14

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,
²To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
³I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
⁴Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;
⁵When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
⁶Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
⁷For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
⁸Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
⁹Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
¹⁰But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
¹¹Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
¹³Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
¹⁴That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.

Devotional:

Do you ever shrink back in fear as you rear your children? Do you feel afraid that you will make awful mistakes that will hinder their development into normal persons and stalwart Christians? Sometimes, the more we read about child psychology and education, the more awesome the task of the parent appears to us.

Actually this is a wholesome attitude to have. We ought to be aware of the magnitude of the task and the seriousness of it. Parenthood is not something we breeze into gaily. It is something we embark upon carefully and prayerfully.

However, the Christian faith is a kind of package deal. We cannot take certain things only and then feel satisfied that we have the complete kit. We can read our Bible carefully and see all we need to know as parents about the nature of man, the insidiousness of sin, God's dual instruments of love and discipline and the rest. We can know all the answers to child-rearing, and yet not be good parents.

What we need further is also part of the package. We need the ability to apply these principles! We need a gift from God to take all our knowledge and use it! 2 Timothy 1:7 explains this gift so well that it would be worth our memorizing it: 'God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.'

We do not approach our task as parents weighed down with fear. We approach it equipped with power and love and self-control, given us by God for applying His truth to our task.

Surely this was the equipment of Lois and Eunice! It would appear that Timothy's father was not much involved in the boy's training and that the grandmother and mother faithfully brought up the lad to know and love God. The Lord has given parents today this equipment, too. Let us use this gift.