Young People’s Blog

“Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy” (2 Timothy 1:4).

At first this may seem like a strange verse. Paul remembers Timothy’s tears, and he wants to see him, to be filled with joy. Can we get joy from someone who sheds tears? Yes, for if the person who is crying is shedding those tears for the same reason we would cry, then it can actually be an encouragement to us. If we are upset about something, but others do not care, then it can make us cry all the more. But if someone else is sorry too, it helps us.

Paul and Timothy were both concerned about the state of the believers at that time, as we mentioned two days ago. They were concerned enough to cry about it, and this was an encouragement to Paul, even though Paul was in prison at this time.

Usually we cry about something that is going wrong in our own lives, but Paul and Timothy were not crying for themselves; they were concerned about others. Do we sometimes cry because of others, or because something dishonors the Lord?

“But now is Christ risen from the dead…But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:20,23).

The Lord Jesus rose on this day — the Lord’s day. It is the day on which we come together to remember Him, for we could not remember Him in death if He were still dead. But now that He is alive, we can remember Him in death.

He is now up in heaven, seated at God’s right hand, and waiting for the Father to give Him the word to come back and take us up to be with Him. In that way He is the firstfruits — the first man to be in heaven with a glorified body. Others are there with Him, for every true believer that has died is surely “with Christ,” but they are there only in soul and spirit. Their bodies are still in the grave, waiting for the resurrection that will happen when the Lord comes back. When He comes to take us home, we will each instantly receive glorified bodies, “fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). What a day that will be!

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Paul was not married and had no natural children, but Timothy was his “own son in the faith.” Now that Paul was getting older, he wrote to encourage Timothy. Things were not going well. Many dear believers were beginning to give up some of the precious truth that Paul had taught them, and were living worldly lives. But Paul tells Timothy to carry on faithfully, and reminds him not to be afraid. He reminds him that God has given us the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind.

The word used here for power in the Greek language is dunamis, a word often used for God’s power. (We get our English word dynamite from it.) The word used for love is agape, which is divine love. And the word used for “sound mind” means a mind under self-control, or disciplined. Timothy was a young man, and as young people we need all these things in the difficult world in which we live today. Let us not be afraid in trying times, for the Lord will give us what we need to follow Him.

“Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence…And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father: and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually” (2 Samuel 9:6-7).

You may remember that when Mephibosheth was a little boy of five years old, his nurse heard that his father Jonathan and his grandfather Saul had been killed in battle (2 Sam. 4:4). She picked up Mephibosheth to run away to safety, but in her hurry he fell and was badly hurt. As a result he was lame for the rest of his life. But some years had gone by, and David was now king over all Israel. David wished to show kindness to Mephibosheth because of his friendship with Jonathan, his father who had died in battle.

Not only did David give Mephibosheth back all the land belonging to Saul, but he brought him into his house, so that he ate continually at David’s table. What a place of favor he enjoyed!

This is a little picture of what God has done for us. Saul was David’s enemy, and for this reason Mephibosheth was at first afraid of David. But David wanted only to bless Him. Today many unsaved people are afraid of God, but through the Lord Jesus, God wants to bless each one who will come to Him.

“But I would have you without carefulness” (1 Corinthians 7:32).

Those of you who live in the U.S.A. are probably familiar with the J. C. Penney stores. Back in 1929, when J. C. Penney was still alive, there was what is called a crash of the stock market, which simply means that the value of investments went way down very suddenly. Many people lost a lot of money. Mr. Penney was a true Christian and his business was sound, but he had made some unwise personal commitments which he found impossible to honor. He became very depressed, and as a result he was admitted to hospital and thought he was going to die.

But on Lord’s day morning, a group of Christian young people came into the hospital to sing, and they sang the hymn, “Be not dismayed whate’er betide; God will take care of you!” As he listened to the beautiful words and singing, Mr. Penney was encouraged, as he realized that the Lord was going to look after him. He got better, went on with his business, and the Lord helped him to work everything out.

Our problems may not be as large as J. C. Penney’s, but the Lord wants us to go to Him with our difficulties too. He will take care of us! (If you do not know this hymn, look it up on the internet!)

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Something that is temporal is something that does not last; it is here only for a while. All around us we see the things of this world, and they are all temporal. Yet many people focus on those things and spend all their time trying to get them. We have a next-door neighbor who is very diligent at keeping his property nice, building new things from time to time, fixing up his summer cottage on a lake, and looking after his pickup truck and car. Yet he has no interest in knowing where he is going when he must leave this world.

God reminds us in this verse that what we can see in this world is temporal, but that the eternal things are not seen. We know about these unseen things only by faith, yet they are real, even though we cannot see them. But our verse today tells us to look at those unseen things, and by faith we can see them and enjoy them even though they cannot be seen with our natural eyes.

“For all the promises of God in Him (the Lord Jesus) are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

People in this world often make promises that they cannot keep, or do not keep. Here where I live in Canada we have just had a federal election. During the campaign, the leaders of various political parties made many promises, in order to try and get people to vote for them. Historically, we know that many such promises have not been kept; they were conveniently forgotten after the election was over. It will probably happen this time too. At other times people may make promises, and really intend to keep them, but then something happens that prevents their keeping the promise.

With God, His promises will never fail, for the Lord always keeps His promises. He is always willing to keep them, and He is always able to keep them. When God keeps His promises to us, it is not only for our blessing, but for the glory of God. If God has said something, we can believe it and rest on it.

“He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour” (Proverbs 21:21).

Back in the 1800’s a Christian young man worked in an office for a man who owned a small company. When his boss wanted the young man to work on Lord’s day, he said no, he would prefer not to do so. (There was no real need for working on Lord’s day; the boss just wanted to make more money.) As a result, the boss fired the young man.

Some time later, a bank manager was having lunch with the young man’s former boss, and mentioned that he was looking for an honest man to handle money in his bank. The boss mentioned this young man to him and recommended him for the job. The bank manager was surprised, and said, “I thought you fired him some time ago!” “Yes,” said the boss, “and the man who will lose his job rather than work on Lord’s day is the man you can trust with your money!” The young man got a good job at the bank, and the Lord honored him for his faithfulness.

We know that some people, such as doctors, nurses, firefighters, etc. sometimes have to work on Lord’s day, but it is nice if we do not have to do this. If we honor the Lord in our life, He will look after us.

“For dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me: they pierced My hands and My feet” (Psalm 22:16).

The expression “dogs” used here refers to the Romans — the Gentiles, who were the actual ones who crucified the Lord Jesus. They drove the nails into His hands and feet, and hung Him on a cross to die. It was a cruel death, and a shameful death too.

But in this verse it does not say that they pierced His side, although a Roman soldier did that too, to make sure that He was really dead. Why does it not mention His side? It is because piercing His side was part of the work of redemption, and this was necessary so that you and I could be saved. God allowed this, for it was the blood from our Lord’s side that put away our sins. This is clear from John 19:34, where it says that from His side “came there out blood and water.”

Man must take responsibility for crucifying the Lord Jesus, but God was there too, and saw to it that the blood was shed which puts away our sins.

“They did not like to retain God in their knowledge…who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Romans 1:28,32).

There is a large country in this world today where Christians are persecuted. The government does not actually do it, but they encourage others to do it, and “look the other way” when it happens. In still other countries terrorist organizations use certain countries as bases for training and terrorist attacks, yet the government itself does not commit those attacks. However, they often encourage these bad people, and sometimes even give them money secretly.

In today’s verses we see that God takes it very seriously when we take pleasure in something wrong, even if we did not do it ourselves. If we think it is a good thing, then we are just as guilty as those that do it. Let us be careful not to take pleasure in something sinful. God Himself says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezekiel 33:11). We should not take pleasure in something wrong, or even in God’s judgment on people, although they may deserve it.