Man, if I can just make it through today. I keep telling myself that and it has become almost my mantra since arriving at the office early this morning. I am taking a week off from work and so today is officially my last day for a while. I’ve been very busy taking care of everything and doing my best to assure that things are going to run smoothly in my department while I am away.
I have a schedule recorded and printed in triplicate, a list of outstanding work orders and projects that are to be completed, and I have a meeting this afternoon with my departmental assistant to go over the final details that need to be covered. I think I have it all taken care of. If I don’t, then it will mean several phone calls over the next week and in essence could possibly ruin my time away from work. But that’s not the only thing; I want the department to run smoothly in my absence as it is how I am judged by those that are above me. It is my responsibility to have everything covered and in place when I am to be out for any reason. It should be that way and I welcome the responsibility of doing so during these times.
Paul had come to the end of the way in his life. He faced execution by Nero in Rome for preaching the Gospel and it was only a matter of time before that event would take place. He wrote a letter to Timothy, the second one that is recorded in the Bible. In that letter he exhorted Timothy to carry on and continue with the work of spreading the Gospel throughout the world that Paul and others had started. It is a sad letter, and you can feel the emotion in the wording. But it is also a glorious letter, because you can also read within its pages that Paul knew what lay ahead of him and yet knew that death was merely a stepping stone to glory in his manner of thinking. He wasn’t unsure or doubting when he wrote the letter; he was already looking ahead to what God had prepared for him due to his supreme faith in Jesus Christ.
“But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
These are not the mere words of a man facing an unjustified execution at the hands of an evil emperor. On the contrary, these are words of one who knows his destiny and is prepared for it. But notice too, that as he looks ahead to his future, he is also making sure that he leaves instruction to Timothy on what to do and how to proceed in his absence. He tells Timothy to ‘watch in all things’ and to ‘make full use of his ministry’. Though Paul was looking ahead, he also remembered that another would be continuing the work in his place and he left instructions on how to do so.
In my own mind I believe that these are some of the most profound words recorded in the Bible considering the circumstance that they were written. I should be more like Paul and honestly, we all should be.
I’m going on vacation so I am nowhere close to being in the same condition Paul found himself in as he penned these words so many years ago. I understand that and in no way am I making light of it. But I’m careful to leave full instruction to those who will be here during my absence; because I want to be sure they will carry on the job while I am away. Paul would have understood that.
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