Do You have Unrealistic Expectations?

 

2 Timothy 4:9-16

What I often expect and what happens in life are often very dissimilar.  Jan and I have had the joy of working with, teaching, and mentoring young couples, and we know a few young ladies who have entered the marriage relationship believing they were Cinderella and the man they married was Prince Charming.  It is not a fun thing to watch, it’s painful, and often there are years of disappointment till the expectations come into the reality that she is not living in a fairy tale, and that the man she married also may have entered marriage with misconceptions of his role and some tried to compete and not complete each other.

We sometimes have unrealistic expectations as a Christian and what happens as we live out our Christianity is that we have many disappointments and sometimes the feelings of being abandoned, if so, you will identify with the apostle Paul?  This second letter to young Timothy was written from a prison cell in Rome, it is also believed to be Paul’s second imprisonment at Rome when this letter was penned.  Paul is now confined and no longer has the degree of liberty as in his first imprisonment.  He is not accessible to his friends and has been deserted by many of his former associates.  In 2 Timothy 1:15-17, we are made aware of his circumstance, “You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.  May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me.”

Paul has no misgiving as to what is coming next, it is his execution, and he is lonely and looking forward to Timothy and others to come give him support in this time of need.  Paul is lonely, he has been cut-off from those whom he had poured his life into and we do not have a clear understanding of what Alexander the coppersmith has done, but Paul tells Timothy, that Alexander did me great harm, but the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.  And Paul gives this warring to Timothy, “Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.” (2 Timothy 4:15)

The culture in which Paul lived hated the message of grace and love by putting faith in Christ Jesus, much like we are seeing in the United State and other parts of the world today, with one exception, they have not put many of us in prison yet.  But it is coming because darkness hates the light, because it shows what is happing in the darkness.  In our culture we take and put the ones who have poured their life into us not in prison, but state run nursing homes, and often they are forgotten, not visited, not cared for as one who has value.  My prayer is that those who find themselves in that state will have the faith of a Paul; though he felt deserted by many and was very lonely, he kept his eyes on the prize.  This is the attitude we must have; “But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.” (2 Timothy 4:17)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice