You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ~ 2 Timothy 2:1
It is so important that we are authentic with ourselves and others. This is so for our posterity because, if we are not, we will train them to be more dependent upon us or themselves rather than on God. We must never forget that we are not the answer, for ourselves or anyone else.
In order to combat this, I have found that it is helpful to make it a habit of admitting that I struggle and I am not the answer. It is the God of the Bible who is the truth and the answer to all of our struggles. And, we really need Him. In fact, we are most spiritual when we are most dependent upon Him. He is the One that everyone in this world is searching for, whether we know it or not.
When we come to God by way of His word daily, we must come seeking Him. And, when we interact with Him, we must be careful to be honest with Him. It is in this context of honesty that He teaches us the best lessons. Never underestimate His ability to reveal truth to you for He longs to do this, even when you have failed. Don't buy the lie that you somehow must make up lost ground with God in order for Him to bless you. He is not like that.
The secret to Paul’s great ministry was the grace of God. It is also our secret to success. The ability to study His word and understand it, is a gift of God’s grace. This is why in v.1 the Apostle writes, "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."
We underestimate God's grace, thinking that our sin is greater. Grace is what God freely gives us through His Son's perfect performance and we do not earn it or deserve it. The initial characteristic of God's grace is the forgiveness of our sins. Oh, the lifting of the guilt of sin. When we trusted Christ as our Savior, a great load of guilt was removed out of our account before God. He forgave us in Christ of all of the things we had done and will ever do here on earth. He even forgave us for the attitudes and shameful actions that we had indulged in to that point. But He didn't stop there, His grace is inexhaustible.
When we fail to celebrate His forgiveness, we lose sight of the bedrock motivation for pursuing Him in this life. Grace is the most powerful change agent in the world, but if it is not doing its work in our hearts on a daily basis, we lose the motivation to pursue God. So, we preach the gospel of grace to ourselves daily. There is a difference between merely reminding ourselves of grace, and preaching it to ourselves everyday. The latter is consciously and intentionally reminding ourselves of God's provisions through His Son, the Lord Jesus. And, He did this even while we were His enemies.
The heart of 2 Timothy comes to us in the words, “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,” which is what produces the theme of 2 Timothy, "Faithful til the end." The only way we are faithful til the end is if we are strong in grace, but most, it seems to me, are malnourished of His grace.
The imperative “be strong” is a present passive imperative, meaning someone outside of us is producing the power. Literally Paul wrote, “Keep on being empowered in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” It is not being strong in our own strength; it’s being empowered in His perfect strength. Let me reiterate that this command is written in the passive voice, which means God is the source of the empowerment.
In Jude 20 we read, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” We do not earn God's favor, nor do we maintain it. To live out of the posture of God's complete acceptance of us on the basis of Christ's merit is the beginning of being empowered by God's grace. We must stay in His grace. We must not allow ourselves to think that God will ever change His posture toward us, even when we sin egregiously.
In Romans 5:2 we read, “we have gained access (to God) by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” In the eyes of God, we are perfected in Christ. So, we are never to earn God's favor because the Lord Jesus has done this for us. And, when we learn to wallow in His grace, it gets all over us and we grow in our understanding of it. It is at this point that we begin to understand, and over time, we begin to stand in it with the confidence of Christ Himself. It is His confidence given through His grace that makes us strong in His grace.
Our determination to be good or our strength to be strong factors not in being strong in His grace. We can offer God nothing. In our own strength we can do nothing. We need grace for our justification and our our sanctification.
It's ironic that we grow in His grace most often on the heels of a reminder of our weaknesses or our failures or our humiliations in life. I have often wondered why God doesn’t just remove the stuff that trips me up in my pursuit of perfect obedience. But, if He did, I'd lean on my own strength instead of His. A few stumbles might be what I need to convince me, once again, that His grace is sufficient for everything in my life, including forgiveness of my sin. And, I am learning to rest in that grace that makes me stronger with each passing day. I like this quote from Max Lucado, "Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off."
