Always do your best

Our lives right now are part funeral, part monastery and part stuck in an airport with no connecting flights.

If you ever wondered what it was like to be Julian Assange (the WikiLeaks guy who hides out in embassies to avoid prosecution), well now you know. What I’m saying is, living lately has not been a lot of fun.

God told us there would be difficult days (2 Timothy 3:1) and He told us people would be a part of the problem.

Do you have any turkeys in your life? People who make a hard life just a little bit harder?

These challenging people will be both inside and outside the church.

The Apostle Paul described them to a young, middle aged pastor named Timothy as: “narcissistic, greedy, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:2-5).

Just another day in the office right?

What do we do with hard times and difficult people?

Paul says, “Be the grown up” (2 Timothy 2:22). Don’t just run from wrong but run to what is right.

In this case, faith, love and peace. Avoid arguing with these people (verses 22-23). We all know you should never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.

Don’t quarrel but rather be kind. Be patient, be gentle, share truth and who knows maybe God will change their hearts (verses 24-25).

It’s important when practicing apologetics (defending our faith) we don’t win the battle and lose the war. We get more flies with honey, right?

Earlier in Paul’s letter to Timothy he encouraged the preacher to be a good soldier and to not get entangled in “civilian affairs” (2:4).

Paul said we should be rule abiding athletes (2:5) and to be “hard-working farmers” (2:6). As we practice what Paul preaches God will give us understanding (2:7). Last time I checked I think they call this faith and without it we can’t please God (Hebrews 11:6).

It does not take any faith to be like the culture. As a pastor my fear and what keeps me up at night is that the sheep will adopt an attitude of “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

Bad company corrupts good morals (1st Corinthians 15:33). It’s why your mother did not let you hang out with certain people and hang out in certain places. What I’m saying is be careful out there and don’t fall into the traps.

Finally, Paul tells us, “Do your best” (2:15). Those words are always a blessing aren’t they?

They leave margin and margin is good. We don’t always succeed do we? Sometimes the turkeys win.

Here’s what we need to know when we experience failure. God loves us and we can’t do anything about it so if you fail or when you fail, God is always there to pick you up and dust you off and encourage you to “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11).

He told me to tell you that.