Thoughts From 2Timothy 4 - Part 3

 Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. 12 I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.14 Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. 15 You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.19 Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. 21 Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers and sisters.22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.  2Tim. 4:9-22

            This is Paul's last recorded writing before he dies. We will all face our mortality at some point so for us to learn to face it like Paul would be a good thing.

       First of all, from the previous passage, he knew that he had a mission on Earth and he was confident that he had fulfilled it tirelessly. Paul says in Ephesians that we are His workmanship created for good works that God has ordained for us. Jesus told his parents when they were looking for Him at the age of twelve, "Didn't you know I would be about my Father's business?" I want to be able to say, at the end, "I've been about my Father's business."

       Part of that is reflecting on all the people that will be in Heaven someday because of your ministry. Paul lists them all and there were so many others - Crescens, Titus, Luke, Mark, Tychius, Carpas, Priscilla, Aquilla, Onesiphorus, Erastus, Trophimus, Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, and Claudia. Not only were they his family but he kept up with them and knew where each of them were. When I leave this planet, will people greet me and say, "I'm here because of you." I know I've prayed with a lot of people to receive Christ, but unlike Paul, I haven't kept up with them to my regret.

      With all the great things that God has done through my life, I remember the failures, hurts, defections even more vividly. I had a drawer full of thank you notes praising me as a doctor, but I can't remember any of them. I do remember the scathing notes written to me, however. I guess that's human nature to remember the one negative and forget the hundred positives. Paul remembers Demas and Andrew the Metal worker but unlike David who tells Solomon to deal with Joab and Shimei after his death, Paul doesn't worry about it and says, "God will take care of them", and as the writer of Hebrews would say, "It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." As I reflect on my life, there are people that have done me harm but rather than dwell on it, I just feel bad for them because they messed with God's kid and if you know anything about parents, you don't mess with their kids.

      Will I fear death when the time comes? I hope I can think like Paul who says that God has delivered him from every evil attack that could have killed him and will take him safely home. In other words, God delivered him from death so that he could die. For Paul, death was nothing to be feared but just a chance to receive his crowns and enter into Heaven.

     I witnessed my dad dying of cancer. In a lot of ways, I was proud of the way he wished he could leave this world and head into the presence of his Lord. He had great faith and loved Jesus more than anything and couldn't wait to enter into His kingdom and hear Him say, "Well done.". In some ways, I think he shut down too early though. I wasn't in his shoes so I can't judge but at times I wanted to talk to him about spiritual things, and he just wanted to focus on dying. He did this for at least three months. Paul says, bring my parchments because I have more to write. Paul was wanting to write epistles that would never be written until God took him home. I hope that I will be taken home in the middle of serving him and not "check out" early.

      Maybe this is morbid to think about dying but this passage from Paul confronts us with the reality. The wisest man ever said that it's better to go to a funeral than a party and I think he would agree with Paul that to occasionally think about our mortality is a good and necessary thing.