Pastor's Blog >

After All

August 12, 2024, 7:45 AM

II Timothy 4:16  At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.    

    “After all I’ve done for you…” Those words are generally spoken with a mixture of anger, disappointment, and frustration. We feel let down or ill-used by those we thought we could count on. It’s a bitter pill for sure. But unlike the taste of a bitter pill, the effects of this kind of betrayal don’t soon go away. Not on their own, at least.

    Paul was in a Roman prison when he wrote to Timothy. He had achieved a tremendous amount of prestige and notoriety as a young pharisee. He was trained by the best and was a star pupil! He had every reason to imagine that generations to come would be reading and remembering his name. But all that changed on the Damascus road. He gave all of that previous life up as he became a missionary for Jesus. 

    His life was poured out for the church. He had walked all over the known world, preaching and teaching and healing. He had suffered illness, beatings, stonings, not to men-tion verbal abuse and hatred. At the end of it all he was in a Roman prison - a far cry from any modern jail! - and even those he thought he could count on have left. After all he’d done for them! Who wouldn’t have understood if he held a grudge, or worse! He wasn’t imagining or making a mountain out of a molehill. Yet he forgave! “May it not be held against them.” He probably was thinking of that day when he held the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death, approving every throw, only to hear him with his last breath pray, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” 

    I have always been struck by the Gospel account of Jesus on the cross. Suffering the worst pain possible inflicted purposely for no sin of His own. He had left Heaven. Walked the dirty streets of Judea. Taught, healed, and fed countless people. Only to end up on a cross! After all He’d done for them! Yet He prayed, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” 

    I know people have hurt you. They have let you down carelessly and on purpose. I understand. But if we follow the Risen Lord, we must learn to forgive. We have to let that go. Stephen did. Paul did. Jesus did. We must be forgiving. Even after all we’ve done for them.

Blessings,        

Pastor Russ