How to Be A Man With A Noble Purpose

Title: How To Be A Man With A Noble Purpose
Text: 2Timothy 2:20-26

2Ti 2:20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.
2Ti 2:21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
2Ti 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2Ti 2:23 Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
2Ti 2:24 And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
2Ti 2:25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
2Ti 2:26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Introduction

Continuously admonish Paul about the perseverance that he must have. Thus, the pursuance of the faith was never easy. It is easier to fall away than to be faithful to the Lord. It is even more attractive to be worldly and to be doing all we want without limitations.

However, doing all we want will never lead us to godliness but to things that are detestable in the eyes of the Lord. This is why Paul is sending Timothy a message to continue what he has started plus he is to do his additional instructions. And this part is continuous instruction in becoming a man with a noble purpose.


In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. How then are we to become a man with a noble purpose? How are we to become God’s instrument for his purpose?

Pursue Righteousness (v. 22)

The very first thing that Paul mentioned is to pursue righteousness by fleeing from the youthful evil desires. In other translations, they used the word youthful lust. Lust as a noun refers to “sexual desires”. There are lots of forms of sexual desires. Here are just some of the examples;
Homosexuality Premarital Sex Live In
Pornography Fornication Sex Orgies

While on the other hand, lust as a verb connotes “great desire” for something, cravings, and strong appetite for something. For example for the politicians who lust for power.

In the passage, both things are being addressed by Paul because any form of lust is definitely a sin and the word itself is always attributed to sinful acts.

Paul used the word “flee”. This signifies that these lustful desires are always present and continuously roaming around like a lion. He is also like a beautiful woman who tries to seduce a man where in this situation, it is very difficult to fight for what is right and it is indeed a very strong force that most Christians both men and women failed to stand.

Paul here is actually teaching us on how to work with this problem. Paul said, we have to “flee” from it. As I try to analyze the passage, I wonder why Paul did not say “fight” evil youthful desires, but instead he said “flee from” youthful desires. Here we see that fighting lust is a difficult, tedious, and most probably fighting it is like exposing ourselves to ruin.

We are to flee, which means to go to an opposite direction, to run away. This is what a Christian should do whenever he face temptations of lust, may it be in a noun form or in verb form.

The main problem with many Christians is that, instead of running away, they tried fighting against it, exposing themselves to strong temptations that caused them to fall away.

I still remember the story of a minister who tried to win women prostitutes from a prostitute den of a particular country claiming that he was called to minister them. His goal is to redeem them from the worldly lust. However, instead of winning them, he end up going with them and having sexual contact with them, thus destroying his ministry, his reputation, and his family.

The Bible is clear in its instruction, we are not to indulge ourselves into it and fight it, but we are to flee. This is not a show of being afraid against sins, but a show of strategic way in facing it.

Pursue Faith (v. 23)

Again, we are not to debate, instead we are to hold the faith that we first received from the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of focusing on debate, we are to pursue the faithfulness in the Lord. We are to see ourselves as people who obey the Lord in doing godliness and righteousness and sharing it to others who need it.

We are to work hard in our obedience to our Lord. We are to watch ourselves to become a good soldier, athlete and farmer. We are to share the gospel to others as the Bible gave a strong emphasis in evangelism and reaching the Lost.

Faith is a very huge topic to discuss, but in this particular context, we can see that the emphasis is against false teachings. Again, false teachings can cause division in the church to which we need to be more vigilant against “seems to be” right doctrine.

Just like what the message told us last Sunday, we need to be avoid negligence on our part. As workers, as God’s people, we need to be studying God’s words all the time. Meditating the Bible night and day as what it says. By doing this, we will be able to know and identify the right and false teachings. In this way, there is no reason why we cannot pursue faith.

Pursue Love (v. 24)

As I stare at the passage, Paul is mentioning 3 general topics, righteousness, love and peace. Though in this case, Paul made mentioned about loving as being kind to everyone. One of the things that we can in first place is to avoid godless chatter, because we know that this produces quarrels among the believers.

We are to be kind to everyone instead of quarreling. We are to teach them instead of making walls so that they cannot reach us out. Even if they tried to teach wrong, we are to rebuke them with love, with the purpose to restore them. We are still to love those who do not love us.

We are not to be resentful, showing our bitterness against them. Instead, we are to show our love and forgiveness to them. This means that if they believed a false teaching, we are to correct them in a way that is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Why do we need to practice love? First, we need to practice love because love is the reason why God gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16). Secondly, love is the greatest gift of God (1 Corinthians 13:13). Lastly, it is Jesus Christ’s command to love one another and that by this, we will be known to be his disciples (John 13:34-35).

Pursue Peace (v. 25)

One of the main products of love is peace. It also forms part with Christ’s gift to humanity. John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

We are to have peace in Jesus Christ, even if we will have trouble with the world. To make it clear, we are to have peace with fellow men especially to our fellow brethrens. But we are to wage war against the schemes of the world, the spiritual battle within.

Ephesians 6:16, we are to wear the boots of peace so that we can maneuver freely in our ministry. Without a good relationship with our fellow men, it will be very difficult for us to share the gospel of Christ. This is why it is wise to share the word of the Lord to those people whom we have a good relationship.
As we can see here in the passage, even to the false teachers, we are to correct them gently and still in a loving way making sure that we are doing this with love. We are still to maintain a good relationship with. We should have nothing to do with godless chatter while maintaining a good relationship with them.

Pursue Fellowship (v. 25-26)

As far as we are looking at the passage, we can see here that Paul is instructing Timothy to maintain fellowship with his fellow believer as much as possible. Those who sinned must be restored gently, aiming for the goal that he will come back to the Lord.

Such love, peace and fellowship among the brotherhood of Christians, the sinning brother may come into his own senses and realize that he was imprisoned by the deadly schemes of the enemy.

Our fellowship with the fellow believers is very important. Here we can see that fellowship helps us grow in the Lord. By seeing our own mistakes, through the fellowship, we will be corrected against the things that we are doing.

God called us to be in the fellowship of the believers with a purpose. The fellowship of the believers helps us especially in times of needs.

Conclusion:

Are we still walking in righteousness?
Are we still walking with faith?
Are we still walking in love with each other?
Are we still walking with in peace with each other?
Are we excited to come to church to have fellowship with each other?

The Secret Of Paul’s Unwavering Faith

Title: The Secret Of Paul’s Unwavering Faith
Text: 2 Timothy 2:8-14

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my
gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a
criminal. But God's word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for
the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ
Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him,
we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we
disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he will remain
faithful, for he cannot disown himself. 14 Keep reminding them of these things.
Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only
ruins those who listen.

Introduction

In the book of 2Timothy, Paul gave so much emphasis to perseverance. In fact, he made it clear that it is very important to run the great race with perseverance. And such running was compared to those who run like a soldier, athlete and farmer.
But why is it that Paul posses this great perseverance. He suffered from all kinds of hardships, ridicules, mocking, escaping an angry mob, several shipwrecks, and now imprisonment for the second time.

In our time, there are only few Christians who can stand against persecution. Many Christians cannot even stand against ridicules. But here in Bible, we see that early Christians has this tremendous faith in them. They posses a faith that does not waver. Today, we will be discovering the secret of Paul’s unwavering faith.

Secret No. 1: Paul’s Message Is Clear (v.8)

Paul’s message was very clear to him. It is Jesus Christ descended from David, raised from the dead. Paul was deeply convinced that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. Having this extra ordinary experience with Jesus Christ in the road to Damascus, since then Paul committed his life to the Lord of lords and King of kings.

Paul started his religious life in persecuting Christians. This is why he said in the book of Ephesians that he is the least among God’s people. He did not only persecute Christians, he murdered many Christians having this extreme belief.

Now, after such extra ordinary experience, even though he knew that people will also persecute him as well, even he knew that this new faith may end his life, even he knew that he will suffer a lot, he also knew that standing by God’s authentic message to humanity and having an unwavering faith will greatly glorify God.

He was not afraid of anything that may happen to him. He is not afraid to work under Jesus’ banner even if he knew that suffering will not spare him. This is all because, the message of God is very clear to him.

Sometimes, I begin to ask myself if the message of the Lord is clear to Christians in our time. Many Christians waver in their belief after hearing God’s word and return to their old life. But this is not the picture of God’s message. Even until now, we continuously preach about perseverance. But still, Christians nowadays, all over the world, have a degraded moral and spiritual life.

Many Christians cannot suffer for Christ which is a sad fact in our time. Thousands perhaps, hundreds of Christians who go to church on Sunday morning, but do all evilness during the rest of the week.

Christians hate hypocrisy too much and nobody likes to be called hypocrite. But sometimes, our actions show that we are indeed hypocrites in front of the Lord. Perhaps, we have just forgotten what the Lord tells us through his words. Or maybe, the message of the Lord is just not clear, because if it is clear, we can not afford our faith to waver.

Secret No. 2: Paul’s Motivation Is Clear (v.9-10)

There are two motivating factors for Paul. The first is that the gospel cannot be chained. He may be in chain, but the gospel cannot be chained. This is why even that he is in prison, he is still able to send message of encouragement, testifying that the Lord Jesus Christ died from the cross, rose from the dead and went up to heaven.

For Paul, it is already a great encouragement that no one can chain the gospel. And because the gospel cannot be chained, he can still continue working and sharing the gospel of the Lord.
The second motivating factor was his compassion in reaching out the "elect". The chosen people of God, predestined for his Kingdom. Note here that the "elect" are not yet saved or else Paul will never extend his efforts to reach them in order to be saved.

Note also that the passage does not imply that Paul knew who are the elect. He is still to reach them so that they will obtain the salvation that is in them.

This passage is very clear that even though God chose us and predestined his chosen people, we who were saved first, should become an instrument to the elect, that they too may obtain
salvation in Christ Jesus.

This passage also teaches us that those denominations who teaches Christians that evangelism is not important, nor needed in our Christian lives, beware of them, they are definitely false teachers. These people are only interested in arguments of words, so that they may attract Christians to join them, and so that they may have offerings.

Those people who were attracted to these teachings are only those lazy Christians who never want to go out for the Lord, do not want to suffer for the sake of Christ, and never have a clear message inside them.

Paul here gave us a very good example to follow. Our motivations should be to reach the elect, so that they too will obtain salvation in Christ Jesus. At all cost, we will reach the lost.

Secret No. 3: Paul’s Motto Is Clear (v.11-13)

Motto is a favorite saying. If we try to look at the passage, we can see here that once again, Paul used this phrase, "here is a trustworthy saying". This saying speaks lots of truth in it.
Verse 11 tells us about dying with Christ. This refers to the spiritual participation of every believer with Christ’s death. This means that we are now dead to sin, but alive in Christ Jesus. However, the passage may also mean a physical martyrdom for Christ as what the context of the passage indicates.

Verse 12 tells us about enduring with Christ, for if we endure, we will also reign with Him. Endurance is one test of the genuineness of our faith. The denial that is being referred here is the permanent denial such as of an apostate. Apostasy will then face judgment before the Lord.

Peter denied the Lord Jesus Christ temporarily. But there we see that even temporary denials results to the deep spiritual humiliation. Peter knew that what he did is humiliating before the Lord. That upon realizing this, he confessed of this sin, and lives as one of the most fervent, industrious apostle, and remarkable Christian in the entire Christian church history.

Verse 13 tells us about God’s faithfulness despite of our infidelity. Christ remains faithful to his promises while we most of the time are infidels of the faith the we have given to Him.

Sometimes, we even doubt how Christ works in us especially in times that we face problems.
The main challenge of this faithful saying to us is our faithfulness to Christ. All kinds of trials exist to Christians. They are not extra ordinary trials because they already exist even before Jesus was born when Herod tried to exterminate the infants in Bethlehem. All we have to do is to remain in him.

As a student of Christian history, this is a reality that we have observed; it is more difficult for Christians to remain in the Lord when there is peace and prosperity. Those Christians that exists during the time of Paul are more zealous than those that we have now in free countries. Those Christians who lives where Christianity is prohibited are more zealous than those Christians who live in democratic countries.

In our days, NOMINALISM is one of the greatest enemies of Christianity. Nominalism means belonging to a certain group only by name, but not in works and in reality. Meaning we might be Christians by name and label, but we don’t really have anything in common with the true Christians because we live like non-believers. Nominalism gives birth to all kinds of compromising acts with evilness. On the other hand, Bible clearly speaks that compromising with evil is already an act of wickedness, because there is no fellowship that exists between the light and darkness (2Corinthians 6:14).

Conclusion

Paul’s has 3 secrets of his unwavering faith. He has a clear message, a clear motivation, and a clear motto.

Questions to Ponder

• Do we really understand the message of salvation?
  
• How are we going to apply the message of salvation in our lives?
  
• Are we just to keep it, or share the same message to others?
  
• Do we have the right motivation in coming to church?
  
• Are we concern to other’s salvation?
  
• Do we have a godly motto in life?
  
• Are we participants of Nominalism?

There’s Nothing To Be Ashamed Of

Title: There’s Nothing To Be Ashamed Of
Text: 2Timothy 1:8-18

"Therefore, never be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his
prisoner. Instead, by God's power, join me in suffering for the sake of the
gospel."

-2 Timothy 2:8

Introduction

Paul was in prison, and most probably in chains. Feeling sad and feeling lonely and long to see all his friends and colleagues, he writes Timothy and encourages him perhaps for the last time.

He saved us and called us with a holy calling (v.9)

As true ministers of Christ, be assured that all of us were saved and called with a holy calling. Verse 9 is a great passage for us to see. It says that we are not called according to our works but according to his purpose and the grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus.
God never based his calling in us because we did good things. He did not called us because when we were not yet Christians we helped the poor and sponsored hundreds of children to go to school.

He called us not to practice our own purpose but the purpose of God for us. He called us because he wants us to do something not for our glory but for our glory. This is why serving God through preaching and teaching is a dignified ministry. Even if other people will not listen, even if other people will not believe in what you teach, and even if people will not act to what God says through you. For as long as God’s calling is clear, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

Again, God did not give us the spirit of timidity but of power, love, and self-discipline (v.7)
He called us before the beginning of time, which means He planned and predestined our calling even before the beginning of time as a confirmation of the statement in Ephesians 1:4

Paul was a hypocritical Pharisee when he was called. He was a legal murderer of Christians of his time. But because of this calling the lies in him, he is deeply convinced that it is only rightful to work for the Lord whether or not, we are in a good condition. We have to stand even in the midst of trials. Paul himself suffered from several shipwrecks, persecutions from his fellow Jews, and even from imprisonment. Noah seems to have gathered all the ridicules on him for the making of the great Ark. He was called for God’s purpose.

Know that God’s ways are sometimes foolishness in the eyes of men. Be careful then in weighing things and decision making. Our personal desires can easily deceive us.

We were appointed to be preacher, apostle, and teacher (v.11)

It is God who appointed us to become preachers, apostles, and teachers and not other people. Just like Paul as being appointed by the our Lord Jesus Christ himself, we too were called to do the same or else, he will not be instructing us to go to all nation baptizing them in the name of the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We are to carry out the gospel as what the preacher does. It is letting them know about Christ, carrying the gospel to these people just like the apostles. The work does not stop there. It continuously goes on until they learn and apply what the message says. We do this like a teacher that assists and takes good care of his students.

All of these are like a cycle. We are to preach the good news to all people, bringing them the gospel and teaching them to obey everything Christ commanded. It is not men who appointed us, it is Christ himself as he commissioned us.

The only thing that remains is our decision to follow him. Again, the preaching the gospel and
In verse 12, Paul noted that because of this appointment, he suffers. He already have experienced the most difficult things that an apostle, or an ordinary believer can ever experience. Yet, he was never ashamed; instead he puts all his confidence to the One who sent him. He is deeply convinced that the One who sent him is able to protect what He entrusted until the Day of Judgment.

We are to hold on to the pattern of healthy teachings along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. We are not to invent neither religions nor beliefs that has no or have very low theological values.

Going back to the historical flow of ministerial practice. Contextualization has helped millions of lost people to know Christ. Missionaries and ministers contextualized God’s word to fit into culture. But later on, contextualization was over used and has been the source of doctrinal perversion of the Christian world to which, the major portion of this supposed to be "Christian Church" refused to go back to the real Biblical teachings. Such refusal also made its way to make many people loose its way to salvation.

The Holy Spirit lives in us (v.14)

Our world is full of corruptions. People always look for "Padrinos" to be somebody in the government, agency or even in corporations. Unfortunately, all these "Padrinos" are something to be ashamed for. People used to boast for their earthly "padrinos" semi-privately, but they used to deny it in the open public.

Unlike, these earthly "Padrinos" we Christians also have a padrino, but He is something that we are suppose to be proud of. He does not do any crime, nor any illicit and illegal acts. Rather, he is something who teaches us to do good, to obey God’s command.

He is the Holy Spirit. The One sent in exchange of Jesus Christ in carnal form (John 14:26).
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of all that I have told you."

He is the great Helper, sent by the Father in the name of Jesus, and the one who will be teaching us all things and remind us all that Jesus told us.

In the passage, Paul mentioned about the abandonment of his colleagues. He was left alone in prison. We can see a picture that in some ways, Paul’s feeling of loneliness here grew the more. He was deserted by Christians from Asia, maybe because of disgrace of his imprisonment. But it is the Holy Spirit that is with Paul, the great Padrino.

The Holy Spirit is also the one who convicts the world of sin, righteousness or judgment (John 16:8). When we are still in darkness, we do not mind at all in sinning. Now that we are in the children of Light, we feel sorry whenever we commit sin and mistakes. This is why, after hearing the gospel, accepting Christ, being baptized and attending the Church, and still we do not feel sorry when we commit sin, or after two or three years of claiming "to be Christians" yet without any change, perhaps, we already need to ask ourselves if the Holy Spirit is really with us.

Conclusion
We really don’t have to be ashamed of anything by becoming a Christian. Instead, we are to be proud of it, yet not becoming self righteous, instead fearlessly proclaiming the word of the Lord.
There are three main reasons why we should not be ashamed of proclaiming the word of God.

• He saved us and called us with a holy calling (v.9)
  
• We were appointed to be preacher, apostle and teacher (v.11)
  
• The Holy Spirit lives in us (v.14)
  

The Good Workman

Introduction
Paul continuously exhorts Timothy to become a good workman. He made some comparison of a good workman to some profession that shows how we should become in the eyes of God.

This passage tells us three comparisons to complete a good workman in the Lord. First, we are to become a good soldier of Christ. We are a part of God’s battalion in spiritual realm. This is our main role as becoming a part of God’s community. We are bound to protect it do everything we can to stand on our ground. In addition to this, becoming a good soldier teaches us loyalty and commitment.

Secondly, we are to become a good athlete. Being an athlete helps us to be become disciplined children of God. It teaches us to follow and obey God set standards he wants us to be more zealous and focus to win the prize.

Third, this passage teaches us to become a good farmer. A good farmer labors hard and gives all his efforts to plant seeds and hope for the near future that a good harvest will come. This is what we are supposed to become.


As A Soldier

A Good Soldier Is Enduring

All soldiers were trained to endure all the hardships. Training does not end as long as they are soldiers. They do this to maintain their stamina. Most soldiers undergo hard trainings and they do almost all kinds of exercises and hard physical trainings. They do push-ups, jogging, jumping jack, boxing, sparring, sit ups, etc.

They undergo hard trainings like rappelling, crossing using only one rope, snake crawling, and all the necessary trainings to become a fitted soldier. Each soldier has to endure hardships. Either they become soldiers or quit. There were many who quits, and there were also who endures.

A Good Soldier Has Loyalty and Commitment

In becoming a good soldier, absolute loyalty to his commanding officer is a must. Each soldier disqualifies himself as a good soldier whenever they disobey their commanding officer. They were court martial if they try to disobey direct command.

Well, of course, there were many incidents in our world that soldier disobeys their commanding officers. But all these are due to corruptions of the commanding officers and the soldiers themselves.

In heavenly realms however, our Commander In Chief does not have any form of corruption, the Perfect One, without a blemish, and without unworthiness. This is why our absolute obedience and loyalty is much needed. If there is any corruption that exists, that corruption never came from the giver of life, but from our human nature, and of the rebellion of the destroyer of life.

A good soldier does not betray the authority over them. They do not abuse the said authority instead they keep it sacred and a must to follow by everyone. They see to it that they obey every inch of commands given to them by their superior officer. They do everything to carry it out.

A Good Soldier Desire To Please His Commanding Officer

No soldier desire to disappoint their commanding officer. They carry out the commands even if their lives are at stake. Even if endangers their very own self, and sometimes even their families, they will do whatever their officer commanded them to do.

Submission to them is a way of life. It is something that they must live for, something that they must keep. Displeasing their commanding officer results to sanctions and discipline. Sometimes, it even results to taking away their assignments from them and giving them a dishonorable discharge.

As An Athlete

A Good Athlete Competes According To The Rules

No athlete is to violate the rules set by the game masters. In every race or in any competition, there is always a set of rules. They are not to violate it or else they will be disqualified and out from the game. An athlete always sees to it that he is following the rules.

Game rules are set of standards of the game for the competitors to follow. Most of these rules are for fair competition while other rules are for the safety of the spectators. Without rules, the game would be chaotic, full or cheating and unfair fighting. While other violations results to accidents, severe injuries and even deaths to both athletes and spectators. To avoid all these, each athlete should follow carefully all the rules of the game.

This is almost the same in our Christian lives. The Holy Bible gave us certain rules to follow so that we will not be disqualifying ourselves from the competition of life. Any violations may result to chaos inside the community of God, divisions, accidents, severe injuries and even deaths of our spiritual lives. I am not talking about salvation, I am referring to our very Christian lives that once very active, not it is as cold as dead.

Backsliders are usually a result of violations of these rules. Only some of them were able to go back into the fellowship while many of them fell cold dead in their spiritual struggle. They are good as being disqualified from the spiritual competition of life.

A Good Athlete Focus To Win The Prize

Every athlete competes to win the prize at the end of the race. Any athlete whose goal is not to win the prize fails and defeated in the great competition. In our world, some fights for honor, while others for glory. This is the real prize for them. The thing is, they can never get the prize without following the rules and without winning the competition. The key in doing this is to focus on the prize.

Having no focus, some athletes unknowingly commits violation of the game which also disqualifies them to the great race. Therefore, it is important to have focus, seeing to it that each rule is being followed carefully.

In the great race of our spiritual lives, there are many temptations along the way. Some offers rest, some offers enjoyment, some offers our favorite thing to do, and some discourages us to not make it hard for us to compete tempting us to stop in winning the race. This is why the ratio of those who continues and those who fails this great race is 1 out of 4.

This means that, if there are four competitors, only one will finish the race, the one who focuses in winning the prize. Some disqualified themselves in violating rules while others just stopped competing.

As A Farmer

A Good Farmer Work Hard To Have A Good Harvest

There is no farmer who does not work. A farmer works in sowing, planting, and taking good care of his crops. But guess what, a good farmer not just work, he works hard. He sees to it that his plants are well watered and well cultivated. He takes good care of his crop examining each plant to be sure that it is free of any pests.

He adds fertilizers to ensure that his plants grow healthy hoping that it will produce good fruits. Some farmers regularly trim their plants and take out dead leaves so that the plants may produce more fruits.

All of us are like farmers. The question for us in being a farmer is whether we are a “hard working” farmer, or just a regular farmer. If we are a hard working farmer, then we can surely expect a bountiful harvest ahead of us.

Some Christians never enjoy being a good Christian because they never work hard in cultivating their spiritual lives. God already gave us all the tools that we need. He also gave us people who can train us in cultivating our Christian lives. Unfortunately, many Christians refrain from working hard. This results to a very poor harvest. Which now is better, to be contented with a few harvest, or to be contented with a bountiful harvest?

A Hard Working Farmer Enjoys His Harvest

The good thing being a hard working farmer is that we can enjoy a good harvest. There is no farmer that does not enjoy his very own harvests. A hard working farmer is supposed to enjoy his harvest. This is what the Bible teaches, working for the Lord is supposed to be enjoyable and not a burden or an additional effort and time.

Some Christians perceived it differently. This is why working for the Lord to some seems to be a big burden. For them it really requires time and effort which is true, but they have forgotten that all these labor are suppose to be enjoyable and not a burden.
Have you seen people who were asked to lead a devotional study, or to preach and says, “it’s too tiring to prepare”. Yes it is too tiring, because in some ways it is hard to work on. But, at the same time, it is supposed to be enjoyable because we are discovering truths in the Bible and you are the first one to realize these truths that you are going to share with others.

This is why we do not enjoy the bountiful harvest because even before we have our harvest, we already abandoned the field that we are farming.

Are we like a farmer who abandons their field? Or are we the farmers who take good care of the field seeing that we are taking good care of our crops until it produces fruits?

Conclusion

My dear brothers and sisters are we like a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer. We have to possess what’s in them for they are interrelated with each other. But are we doing all these:

Are we practicing ourselves to have a good spiritual discipline?
Do we have loyalty to our Commander?
Are we doing our best to please our Commander In Chief? Or are we doing our best to please ourselves?

Are we following the rules of the Game of Life?
Are we focus in winning the Game of Life, or are we focus in winning our own game?

Are we a “hard working farmer”? Or are we an impatient farmer who forces their plants to bear fruit?
Are we enjoying our harvest? Or because of our impatience we do not even recognize that the harvest has come?