2 Timothy 2: 11-13. For if we died with Him, --to our sins, just as He died for our sins-- We shall also endure with Him. If we endure, --temptation and trials, just as He endured temptations and trials for us-- We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, --the place belonging to Him in our hearts and lives-- He also will deny us --the place we were made for and intended for, in His heart and home. But. If we are faithless, --when we fail our promises, when our love cools, when we don't trust Him as He deserves-- He remains faithful--He cannot deny Himself. For the longest time I could not understand 2 Timothy 2: 11-13. What was the logical progression between the correlative equations of the first three, and the seeming inconsistency of the last couplet? Hope. Our relationship with Christ may seem like an equation on several levels. A promise of glory and greater good through suffering patiently endured, a promise of purity and perfection through purposeful overcoming of sin, as depicted in these verses. In our effort to motivate ourselves we reduce our relationship with Christ into a simplistic equation. If I want that, I have to do this. But love is not an equation, and Christ's love for us is definitely not an equation. He loved us while we were still sinners, when there was no sign of us ever being worthy of that love. He loved us knowing that His love and His grace would have to be what changed us, that the force behind this relationship would have to be 100% His--not the '50-50' relationship that seems so ideal to us. We were suckers in more sense than one--parasitical, needy; 'high-maintenance' friends in other words. And still, He loved. His call to put off sin, to endure, to courageously accept, is a calling that is integral to His relationship to us as a Saviour--just as mentorship is an intrinsic aspect of your relationship with a coach or parent. He calls us away from what He came to save us from, and towards what He embodies. But ultimately, Love is what characterizes and created this relationship, what sustains it--His love. His love is what transforms 2 Timothy 2: 11-13 from a series of equations to a description of a relationship. His love is an aspect of His character and not an evaluation of our worthiness. And sometimes, that is all that gets me through the day, all that gives me hope and courage for living; for living with myself, for living with others, for living in this messed up and terribly painful world, a world and its people desperately in need of perfection.
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