These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. 1 Timothy 3:14
Our text today reveals a huge difference in the situation in which the apostle Paul wrote each of his two epistles to Timothy. In his second letter, Paul is writing from prison, expecting at any time to be hauled away from his cell to the execution chamber. It was, in fact, the last epistle that he wrote, or at least the last that the Holy Spirit has preserved to us in the Scriptures. In that second letter, Paul is evidently lonely and feeling deeply the loss of the brethren who have left him. He pleads with his beloved protege Timothy to hurry as quickly as possible, and, feeling the chill of the prison in his old bones, urges Timothy to bring along a cloak that he had left in Troas. There is almost a pathetic tone in that letter. Not so in First Timothy, even though it was written only three years earlier! Fully engaged in his work of teaching the Lord’s people, Paul is addressing the issues and problems that arise in the various Assemblies with which he corresponds. In his first letter, he is not pleading for Timothy to come to him, but is expecting to make the trip to Ephesus where Timothy was. He evidently wants to be helping Timothy to deal with the various situations in Ephesus, and tells him how to carry on until he gets there. That is what First Timothy is all about.
Like Paul, you and I can’t always be where we would like to be helping out, although we are unlikely to be detained by prison bars like Paul was. Like Paul, you and I have a care for and an interest in the Christians in various places. Perhaps it is the missionaries who we know who are serving in far-off places. Paul made a point of knowing how things were going with the work, and what issues were arising that the workers had to deal with. That would be a good exercise for us. How much do we know of the problems the Christians are having, and the struggles the workers are having to turn back the enemy’s attacks? Only by knowing can we pray intelligently about the work, and provide whatever support that we can. The same goes for the full-time workers in our own region, and in our own land. If they are engaged in a Gospel series, we need to know how the meetings are going, and what problems the workers are encountering. That way, we can provide the prayer support and other help that we can. Paul made a point of praying for Christians in Assemblies that he had seen planted, and even in some Assemblies where he had never visited. And he wrote letters of encouragement and correction. He really cared about those people. And he hoped to see them when he went to visit Timothy.
There are Christians who you and I would love to go and see someday. Maybe we will get to do so, maybe we won’t. But there are things we can do for them while we are waiting. – Jim MacIntosh