Timothy, Turbulence Up Ahead!

2 Timothy 3:12-15


Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are
able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith
which is in Christ Jesus.

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At first reading of verse 12, it didn't make sense -- why all who desire
to live godly lives in Christ Jesus have to be persecuted? Shouldn't we
be commended and comforted? But this letter
to Timothy outlines the reality of those pursuing the truly godly lives which
is going to be turbulent because such lifestyles would collide with the
standards of this world.

Therefore, as we are told to buckle up before the airplane takes off or
whenever the pilot feels that the plane is going to be shaken around, Paul
seems to be telling Timothy to buckle up because there is turbulence up
ahead.

This is conceptually easy to grasp, but without a substantial grounding
in God's wisdom and truth, we can easily be tossed around and even be
tossed out. Luckily not many of us have to test whether those seatbelts
are really sturdy enough to hold me down or not in real situations
but we know that many people's lives are saved by those seatbelts.
Likewise, even though we do not have to test our grounding in God's presence
every day through crisis or persecution, we better confirm and re-confirm
such a solid grounding in God because, as Paul warns Timothy, the road
up ahead will test us for sure.