2 Timothy 4:1-5

2 Timothy 4:1-5 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Once again we find Paul encouraging Timothy to keep the faith and to minister the good news regardless of what happens in his life. We see this theme throughout the Bible: faith in God in spite of life's circumstances. In the Old Testament we see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Solomon, King David, Daniel, the prophets, and many others possessing an enduring faith in God regardless of the difficulties and hardships in their lives. In the New Testament we see John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, Stephen, James, John, and the like struggling with the vicissitudes of life while keeping their faith in God strong. They all believed in miracles, they all saw miracles in their lives, yet they all sought another home. They talked about a Promised Land, a place of rest, Heaven. None of them, even in the Old Testament, thought this earth was their final destination, their FINAL inheritance. Even in Lamentations, a book of lamenting, it says, "Great is his faithfulness; his lovingkindness begins afresh each day. My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." (Lamentations 3:23-26). As priests, the Levites' inheritance was God himself. Consequently, they received no inheritance in the land of Israel. In the New Testament we are called priests of the Most High; therefore, our inheritance also is God, not this earthly dwelling place. We should live our lives with that thought in mind.

Christians have many miracles in our lives, for God is good, and we should expect miracles in our lives every day for each day is a new beginning. "Great is his faithfulness; his lovingkindness begins afresh each day," but this does not mean that we should seek the world and the things in it. However, we do have the privilege of asking God to bless us and to dispel the difficulties we are facing in our lives. But, rather than solely seeking the comforts of this world, we should constantly seek the will of God, and try to understand that his will does not always translate to our will. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. If we primarily seek our will rather than the will of God, our lives will turn into trash, that which is good for nothing but the garbage heap. His plans will make our lives beautiful, worthwhile. The men mentioned in the first paragraph sought first the kingdom of God, and if anything else of this world was supposed to be added to their lives, it was God's will not theirs. Foremost, they were oriented towards serving God, not themselves.

Itchy ears are ears that want the gospel of God to suit their own desires. These kind of ears will listen to any myth, any soothsayer, any astrologist or even any minister that will tell them they don't have to endure hardships, persecutions, deprivation, or the difficulties of life. Paul tells Timothy, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. We too must endure hardships, difficulties, and disappointments. We too must discharge all the duties that God has assigned to us. We too must run the race passionately and faithfully to the end. This is the assignment God has given to us. This is the assignment all the godly people of the Bible undertook. They ran the race to the end. They were troubled and even sinful at times as we are, but they did not give up. They ran the race, expecting a miracle to happen in their lives, expecting God to meet their needs, but they ran the race hard regardless of how they felt, or whether their flesh felt their needs were being met. They had their eyes on the prize of the high calling of God, and they were looking for a heavenly city whose builder and maker is God.