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14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. 1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 NRSV)
Nellie and I are enjoying Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day/Whatever you want to call it, with our two youngest grandsons. What has us tickled is that Eli, our 4 year old is doing his Kindergarten homework which is writing his name and some of the numbers he is studying. He is excited and as he sounds out words phonetically, he makes facial and hand movements as if he were a martial arts black belt in Phonics. Quite the show and quite the scholar! He already demonstrates a love for learning and we praise God for that. I wonder how many of us get excited when we get a chance to read God's Word? Do we make faces of joy and movements with our hands to "sound out" what God is trying to share with us? Or are the facial expressions of dread and disgust? "This again? Why do we have to read or hear the word of God again?" Eli loves for us to order him McDonalds' Happy Meals and he loves the surprise toys that come with them. The other day he got a plastic figurine that had a white karate outfit and a sash aournd its head. "This is Jesus!" Eli exclaimed. "If the next one is Jesus I'll give it to grandpa, because he loves Jesus!"
These letters to Timothy were sent with much love and as much urgency for Paul felt his time on earth was soon coming to an end, and Paul wanted to make sure Timmy was still onboard and on track with what the old apostle had shared with him. The teachings were shared with the hope that Timmy had the instructions of salvation close at hand.
Paul's instruction is clear: "Continue in what you have learned." This isn't rigidity—it's staying anchored in truth when everything around you is shifting. Paul makes a stunning claim about Scripture: it is "God-breathed" and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. The Bible carries the very breath of God, serving a specific purpose—to equip God's people for every good work and instruct us for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. We don't simply study Scripture for information; we submit to it for transformation.
From this foundation, Paul issues a solemn charge: "Proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching." He invokes God's presence, Christ's judgment, and the reality of Christ's coming kingdom. Timothy's calling isn't to be popular but to be faithful in proclaiming God's message regardless of how it's received. "Be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable" challenges us to speak truth even when the message is unwelcome, the culture is hostile, or faithfulness costs something. We persist not because we enjoy confrontation but because we're accountable to God, not to public opinion. Yet our methods matter—we must speak truth with patience, clarity, and genuine compassion.
Paul explains why this charge is urgent: "The time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths." We live in this age now—people curate spiritual input based on comfort, surrounding themselves with voices that affirm what they already want to believe. "Itching ears" captures our tendency to seek teaching that justifies our lifestyles and never challenges our comfort. The result is wandering toward myths—not dramatic heresy but subtle drifts from truth into stories that sound spiritual but lack power to transform. These myths promise blessing without sacrifice, grace without holiness, heaven without surrender. This drift happens gradually as people accumulate teachers who tell them what they want to hear until they've wandered so far from truth they no longer recognize it.
Paul concludes: "Always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully." This is the antidote to wandering—staying sober-minded, enduring hardship, doing the work, fulfilling the calling. "Endure suffering" isn't incidental to faithful ministry—it's central to it. Following Jesus and proclaiming His truth will cost us something. The call is to remain faithful when faithfulness becomes costly, to keep speaking truth when silence would be safer, to continue loving people even when that love is rejected. This passage calls us to counter-cultural faithfulness rooted in God-breathed Scripture, expressed through persistent proclamation, sustained through patient endurance, and motivated by accountability to Christ. In a world of wandering, we're invited to stay anchored—not rigidly stuck but firmly rooted in truth that transforms.
PRAYER: Lord, anchor us in Your God-breathed Word, give us courage to proclaim truth whether it's welcome or not, and sustain us through the suffering that faithfulness sometimes requires—keep us from wandering toward comfortable myths and root us in truth that transforms. This we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Open your Bible this week and ask God to show you one specific way you need to let Scripture correct or train you rather than simply affirm what you already believe, then take one concrete step of obedience in response to what He shows you.
I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God, and you matter to me! Make a life-saving difference in someone today!
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
