What I Teach

ByJim Stephens

Reading: 2 Timothy 3; Psalm 134

But you know what I teach, Timothy, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith and how long I have suffered. You know my love and my patient endurance. (2 Timothy 3:10 NLT)

Paul was consistent in what he taught, how he lived, and what he purposed to accomplish. Timothy knew Paul like a son knows his father, but even I know these three things about Paul by reading his story in Acts and by reading the letters he wrote to churches and individuals.

  • Paul taught salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, moral living, and that the church is the hope of the world.
  • Paul lived for Christ, for others, and for his mission, sacrificing anything that got in the way.
  • Paul’s purpose was to tell first the Jewish and then the Gentile world about hope in Christ and then to establish communities of believers everywhere to propagate the faith.

I know that this description of Paul’s teaching, his life, and his purpose is simplified and a little subjective, but the point God was making to me today is that all three of these things were consistent in Paul’s life and were observable.

I want someone who knows me, who hears my teaching, observes my life, and considers what I’m living for to be able to observe these three things about me:

What I teach, how I live, and what my purpose in life is. And I want it to align with God’s plan and purpose for me!

Prayer:

Father, Please help me to know what to do and how to do it – how to be more focused on a consistent life message in my teaching and influence of others, to live a life others can learn from, and to spend my days and hours focused on your purpose for my life.