The Triumph of a Gifted Life

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“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Nothing would be more incongruous than for a follower of Jesus to be found groveling at the footstool of Caesar. And Paul wanted to make sure that Timothy knew exactly where and how he himself stood as he prepared to enter the High Roman courts to be sentenced to death.

Was Paul filled with fear? Was he on the threshold of buckling before the threats of the Roman Emperor? Was he second-guessing his actions? Was he having regrets about the decisions he had made in following Jesus?

NOT IN THE LEAST!

In the face of imperial intimidation he was standing with power, love, and a sound mind.

The Message puts the verse this way: “God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible” (2 Timothy 1:7, The Message). Paul's encouragement to Timothy, and to us, is that we can do the same in whatever we are facing.

Power, Love, and a Sound Mind.

POWER assures us that we have all that is necessary to triumph, and thereby makes us bold in the face of intimidating circumstances. LOVE insures that we will use our power in ways that are constructive and redemptive. And a SOUND MIND secures us with clarity in the face of confusion, and marks us with sensibility in times of insanity.

Power, Love, and a Sound Mind -- these three keep us focused upon the opportune moment for action and make us decisive when that moment comes.

If you are facing difficulty at work or home, with friends or neighbors who intimidate you, or circumstances that seem to back you down from being who God has gifted and called you to be -- this verse is for you!

If you feel yourself inwardly cowering into silence and passivity -- then this verse is for you. It is packed with power to change you from the inside out.

Stir up your gifts! You can be what you are meant to be. You can shine like the sun in its race across the sky if you stay within the gifting the Lord has placed in your life. Be who you were created to be -- bold and loving and sensible -- and that will silence the critics and nay-sayers every time!

That is the triumph of a gifted life!
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So Say the Experts

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“They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven't the remotest idea of what they're holding forth with such imposing eloquence” (1Timothy 1:7, The Message).

The experts don't always get it right. Sometimes their learning impedes their looking -- that is, they cannot see past what they have been taught, because their opinions are set accordingly.

Job ran into this with his friends who came to comfort him, but only ending up condemning him for his unwillingness to submit to their opinions about what they thought caused his woes. “I’m sure you speak for all the experts,” he said, “and when you die there'll be no one left to tell us how to live” (Job 12:2, The Message).

Jesus said, “Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God” (Matthew 23:9, The Message).

That's exactly what Job was doing, and we should do the same today.

And we have plenty of opportunities to do so, for there is never a shortage in our world of people ready to express their religious opinions.

There will always be people who are quick to tell you that you are wrong and to criticize your every word and move. Their expertise in matters of doctrine and duty somehow compel them to correct you even when they have no real right to do so. They neither know you, nor love you; and therefore transgress when they openly criticize you.

The irony is that none are so blind to the error of this abhorrent behavior than those who are most guilty of it. The experts don't always get it right. After all, it was the builders who rejected the Cornerstone; it was the Authorities in Law and Prophecy who were the very ones that completely missed the Messiah!

And today those who know most about the Bible sometimes seem to know least about what it means to actually live according to its teachings.

The celebrated preacher of Westminster Chapel, G. Campbell Morgan, said, “It is possible to be biblically correct, doctrinally pure, theologically sound, morally impeccable, and spiritually useless!”

Oh may such a thing never be true of you, nor me!
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When Miracles Come from Mud Balls

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“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25).

It’s one of those strange moments in Scripture – Jesus makes a pair of mud balls and places them over the empty eye sockets of a man who was born blind, telling him to go wash his face at the pool. The man does so and – bam! – he can see!

It is at this point that the story gets really bizarre.

The religious leaders become so agitated by this man’s excitement and his confession of faith in Jesus, that they ultimately toss him out of the Temple! How ironic -- a blind man sees, and sighted men are blinded by their self-righteousness.

William Yeats said, “All empty souls tend to extreme opinion.”

Such were the religious leaders in Jesus’ day – empty, and extreme. And such are those who prefer religion over relationship with Christ in our own day.

Matthew Henry, the great Bible Commentator, wrote, “There is none so blind as those who will not see.”

It is uncanny how quickly religious minded people fall into the snare of their own opinions. An extraordinary miracle took place right before their very eyes, but they couldn’t see it because their minds were already made up about something completely different.

They were dead set against Jesus – and therefore nothing He did could possibly be legitimate. Rather than acknowledge the miracle, they excommunicated the man whom Jesus had healed.

When miracles come from mud balls we each may be faced with similar challenges – especially if our opinions are so set that we cannot see what the Lord is doing in spite of us.

Henry Ward Beecher described a highly opinionated religious opponent thus -- “He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin and never seeing noble game.”

Don’t let religious opinions blind you to the miracles that come from mud balls. Otherwise, you just may be the one who ends up sitting in the dark.
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