Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Tidbits. Today, we are in 2nd Timothy, chapter 1, and verse number 4.
In our last episode, we listened to the fact that Paul says that he is thanking God for Timothy, that he is constantly remembering Timothy in prayer, and then he says, this is what I'm praying for in verse number 4, longing to see you, even as I
recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. Here, Paul has a desire to actually be where Timothy is, to see him, to spend time with him, to talk with him, and he says, I recall your tears, the sadness that Timothy carried with him.
Even as we look at other portions of scripture, we know that some of that resulted from Timothy's health, that he was not in particularly great physical health, and so he would often need some encouragement from Paul for, hey, take this time away to
be able to care for your health, or even as he tells him in, I think it's 1 Timothy chapter five, where he says, use a little wine for your stomach's sake. He says specifically, I know you have been avoiding this particular health remedy because you
don't want other people to maybe say, well, just that elder, that pastor of that church, he's just a drunk, and so we don't need to listen to him. He says, but because of the physical ailments that you have, you do need this for your health.
And so he encourages them in that way.
We can think also of the fact that Timothy greatly loved Paul and went through all of the same types of hardships that Paul went through over the course of many years that he had left his hometown to be with Paul.
And so to then be separated from Paul, where Paul was in a prison in Rome, would certainly have been a cause for many tears for Timothy. And so he says, like, I want to see you because I recognize that you have this sadness, you have these tears.
And he says, and when we're reunited, I am going to be filled with joy. Like, yes, I'm doing it so that you are no longer having to cry.
But I am also doing this because it rejoices my heart to be around you, to hear what God's doing in your life, all those kinds of things.
I think one great application that we can take from this for our lives today is do we have a longing, do we have a desire to see other Christians, do we have a desire to see other Christians from our local church?
For some people, they're like, listen, all I can handle is one hour around these other people on a Sunday and even then, you know, maybe I might be sitting on another aisle, another row, something, and that's as much interaction as I'm going to have
with other believers. That is not what Jesus died for, first and foremost. Jesus died so that we would have the same unity, we would have the same oneness as he and the Father have within the Trinity.
Obviously, the Holy Spirit included in there as well.
Jesus died so that we would be brothers and sisters, so that the walls that once separated us would be torn down, that no matter our age, no matter our race, no matter our likes or hobbies, that we would be able to spend time with one another to
encourage each other, to love each other, to spend time with each other, because we have a common Father, we have a common Savior, we have a common Holy Spirit, and so that ought to motivate us to want to be around one another. So yes, there's a
baseline thing of we should absolutely want to be around one another in church, that it would be something that we put importance on. We're not always looking for, okay, well, I could go to church, or I could do this other thing, but that we would
intentionally meet with the local church, but then let's not allow our fellowship to end there. Like, let's go out for meals with other people in the church. Let's be praying for each other. Let's do ministry with one another.
Let's, you know, invite one of your friends, I say that, invite someone else from church over to your home and have one of your friends or one of your coworkers or one of your neighbors over. And team up on them. And, you know, talk about the Lord.
Talk about your church. Obviously not in a weird way, not in an obnoxious way, but let the life and love of Jesus flow out from you and let other people see how much you love the other people in your church.
Not just how much you love maybe a program or a preacher or music or a location, but let an actual love for the other people in your church be that identifying marker in your life that as Jesus told the disciples, by this, everyone will know that you
are my disciples if you have love for one another. Is that clear and obvious in your life? Even as it was clear in Paul's life for Timothy.
