So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
We’ve all experienced that difficult relationship, the one that will not improve no matter how hard we try. We’ve been kind, patient, cheerful, and forgiving, but to no avail—the other person refuses to budge. Our efforts to do good feel one-sided and pointless.
But those who wait for the LORD [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
When we pray about a relationship, we often look for the answer to our prayer in the other person rather than in God. We might pray for a change in the other’s behavior or a softening of the heart.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
When we forgive, we make ourselves poorer so that the one who offended us might become richer.
No matter how you view them, conflicts are costly. It costs to keep nursing a grudge. Ironically, it also costs to stop nursing a grudge and forgive your offender.
Never put a person to death on the testimony of only one witness. There must always be two or three witnesses.
Accusations leveled against others are always serious business. God’s law protected innocent people from wrongful condemnation by requiring the testimony of more than one witness.
We can take this warning to a personal level and realize that we often accuse people with only our own perceptions to guide us. Unfortunately, these perceptions are subject to a number of influences.
Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
In this letter to Timothy, Paul reminds his young friend not to give into fear but to stand firm as God’s person in the face of political persecution and personal attacks. Remember your faith, he tells Timothy, and let God’s grace and gifting define who you are and how you behave.
