But as for You

Scripture Reading: 2 Timothy 3-4

In 2 Timothy Paul gives a painful and brutal assessment of last day's degeneracy. What strikes me though, is a phrase he repeats in slightly varying forms three times in short order. There is a clear pattern. Paul predicts bad things for society and the church. In 3:1-8 it is moral degeneracy. In 3:13 it is false teaching. In 4:3-4 it is a falling away from the faith. Then, after each warning, Paul exhorts Timothy, and in each exhortation, he uses similar language: “You, however,” “But as for you,” and “As for you.”

Simply put, Paul was telling Timothy in stark terms what the world and the church would look like when waves of moral collapse and spiritual apostasy sweep over it. And then he followed that with an exhortation for Timothy to stand apart from that and be different.

Conformity to the crowd, swimming with the cultural streams, and going along to get along are always tempting options. It is also tempting to react and trade insult for insult. We can be just like the person we are reacting against but with a different political or theological bent.

The message of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” comes to mind here. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” “Be reconciled to your brother,” “Turn the other cheek,” “Go the extra mile,” “Love your enemies,” “Pray for those who persecute you,” “Do not be anxious,” and “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them,” will be empty platitudes or genuinely lived Christian experience in days like these.

The world around us won’t live out these principles of Jesus. They can’t. They aren’t capable of doing so. No one is apart from the empowerment of the Holy Spirit of God. But if you are a Christian, a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ, then you can and you must.

Paul’s words, “But as for you,” aren’t just for Timothy. They are meant for you and me as well. When you look at what is wrong in the world and the church, realize you can’t fix it all. But you can, by God’s grace, make great strides toward fixing yourself.

“But as for you…”