Brothers,

Last verse of the week.

A verse where Paul mentions the Holy Spirit. I pray that He work through us and that He gives us the right words to say and the right deeds to do!

Here you can find the text:

2 Timothy 1:14, “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you -- guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

Interesting points:
1. With this verse Paul builds on the previous one by reminding Timothy to guard the truth of God’s glorious gospel -- the good deposit that was entrusted to him. This is the only verse in this letter where the Holy Spirit is specifically mentioned, specifying its role of protection and strength in remaining faithful to God’s Word.

2. As we saw from Verse 13, the good deposit that Paul was entrusting for Timothy to guard was the apostolic teachings (Gospel/Good News), so that false teachings would not establish a foothold nor lead God’s chosen away from the Truth. Paul knew his days were numbered and that many had abandoned him in this critical hour; therefore, he was ensuring that Timothy understood that he was passing the baton to Timothy to succeed him in guarding and proclaiming the integrity of the Gospel.

3. Paul had mentioned both God the Father and Jesus Christ earlier in this letter but here, the Holy Spirit becomes the focus as the One who "lives in us” and helps us to guard the Gospel through a “pattern of sound teaching”. The Holy Spirit which transforms us through the working of the Word in our lives also protects our understanding by providing discernment and provides the confidence in the Truth to speak and defend it.

Application.
Brothers, we are constantly bombarded with images, ideas, words and music lyrics that can penetrate our thoughts, affect our decisions and influence our morals and world view. Sometimes they don’t challenge what the Word says head-on but their second and third order consequences erode the truth and our credibility in presenting the Truth to the World.

Although we may not necessarily be called to defend the Gospel, choices we make without considering Scripture could diminish our testimony of Christ before others and thereby hinder their accepting the Good News and accepting Jesus as Savior – simply because our lives are no different than that of non-Christians.

This verse talks about the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Do we listen for God’s voice when we study His Word, have to make decisions – important and otherwise – and do we even recognize His voice when He speaks to us? If not, we not only impeded the Holy Spirit’s transformative work in our lives, we unknowingly impede His protecting our understanding of the Truth and the full power and strength of God to work through us for His Kingdom.
May we all learn and guard our minds from what is not of God and to fully recognize the voice of our Good Shepherd and obey His voice.