Reading in 2 Timothy 2:1 recently I noticed an important phrase. Here’s the verse.
“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,”
Do you see it?
Paul wrote to Timothy to instruct him and encourage him in the work God had for him.
The phrase that stood out when I read it is this: “be strengthened”.
Some translations say “be strong”. But what follows is essentially the same in them all.
Timothy’s strength was not his own. It was to be found “in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”
So Paul’s encouragement wasn’t for Timothy to muster up strength of his own but look to Jesus and His strength.
It’s in the grace that is in Christ Jesus we find true strength. Strength that shows itself as wisdom and discernment from the Word of God and patience and joy by the Spirit of God, all giving hope and faith to serve Him daily.
I hope that encourages you as it does me. A phrase from a song we’ll be singing at our Winter Retreats encourages me in the same, “yet not I but through Christ in me.”
We’re working these days to prepare Camp Barakel for that Winter Retreat season. The work continues and there is much to do, but not without the strength by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.