“Preach the
word; be prepared in season and out of
season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful
instruction.”
II Timothy 4:2
Remember all the
tricks you used in high school to avoid being called on by the teacher?
You didn’t raise
your hand.
You didn’t shout
out “Pick me!”
You certainly
didn’t make eye contact.
And yet somehow
they knew and guess whose name was called out to give the answer.
Yours!
Maybe that’s
just a tiny bit like what Paul was exhorting Timothy about in this letter when
he said: “…be prepared…out of season…”
Its’ one thing
to have all our ducks in a row and a nice neat outline with three points; but it is quite different when God ‘calls on
you’ when you are not prepared.
What do you do
then?
Fake it?
Of course not.
You rely on the Spirit
of the Lord to speak through you.
Jesus said in
Matthew 10:27 -
“What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight;
what
is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs”
Our ministry;
whether it’s writing a blog, preaching before thousands or instructing our
child, should “proclaim to others” what God has given us.
Our words spoken
should be a result of the relationship we have with Christ.
That is not
always easy because sometimes our tongue is such an ‘unruly member’ as James
speaks about.
“Out of season”
does not mean out of relationship.
As we abide in
Him and His words abide in us we have what we need in season and out of season
to speak words that encourage, strengthen and build up others.
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