“Maintaining one’s focus”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Wednesday, February 8, 2023

2 Timothy 1:15- 2:13 (Forward, p. 10) CEV p. 1250

Timothy is Paul’s young protégé and so Paul has some words of advice for him. Knowing how easy, and natural, it is to get disillusioned by the lack of results and worn out by the relentless array of tasks and pressures, Paul wants to encourage him. He comes up with several illustrations that speak of faithfulness of one’s task and of maintaining one’s focus while pursuing those tasks:

a) Firstly, he uses the image of a soldier, presumably a Roman soldier, for they were everywhere in evidence. (That is how the Roman Empire maintained its control over such a far-flung and disparate empire.). These soldiers were the military elite of their day, consummate professionals who were highly trained and disciplined. Moreover, they lived a professional life in strict obedience to their commanding officers, such that in the field they operated seamlessly as a single organized, coordinated unit.

b) Secondly, he refers to an athlete, and again, they were very much in the public eye within the ancient Roman and Greek empires. Athletes were highly praised and so, in order to win or do well in their events, they endured strict training and exercised notable discipline and self-control in order to not be disqualified. They were very careful to watch their weight so as not to carry any extra poundage (see Hebrews 12:1). Certainly, they were to obey all the rules and run with fierce intent that focused single-mindedly on their destination (see Hebrews 12:2)

c) And thirdly, he speaks of a farmer. Farmers too were notable in their discipline, in their single-minded focus of their crops and whatever was necessary to bring it to maturity and harvest. The conditions surrounding agriculture in ancient Palestine varied greatly according to region, and depended upon such things as rainfall, elevation and kind of soil (whether fertile or not, or whether rocky or not). Southern regions tended to be more exacting due to the rocky soil, heat and lack of consistent rainfall. The exceptions were around Jericho where irrigation could be practiced and in the Negev where some of the ancient peoples were able to dam up the wadis and use the flash floods to their benefit. Northern regions like Galilee were blessed with better soils and more consistent and heavier rains. Even so, farmers were at the mercy of the unpredictable former and latter rains (spring and fall) and the heavier winter rains. Regardless of region, however, it was an uncertain and labour-intensive exercise, one that certainly required diligence and a certain kind of ‘focus’ on the task at hand.

Paul uses these various images to impress upon Timothy how very important his own work and calling was and how he needed to be diligent, closely focused on it, and not allowing himself to be distracted or off put by anything else. Indeed, to especially emphasize this, he mentions his own rather nasty situation. Paul himself is in prison, but rather than allow that to sideline his work, he uses it to the benefit of the gospel. As he wryly mentions elsewhere (Philippians 1:12-13), the entire Pretorian Guard has heard the Gospel. They can’t help but do so, seeing as they are chained to him. Talk about a ‘captive audience’?

And so, this is a great ‘word to the wise’, a great reminder that we should keep at our God-appointed task, no matter what else in happening in our lives, that is, regardless of what trials, difficulties or setbacks we encounter. Amen.

Forward notes: “And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules” (verse 5).

“Ten years ago, I ran a marathon. But no one just runs a marathon. It takes prayer, discernment, friends, and a training schedule. As with my morning devotions, I followed a schedule. I had it taped to the fridge: three short runs during the week, longer runs on the weekends, and some cross-training in between.

“I seriously stuck to those rules. I didn’t eat a lot of junk food. I didn’t hit my alarm and go back to sleep. I checked the boxes off on my fridge schedule. On race day, I was ready when the flare gun went off, and it was amazing to cross the finish line. My favorite part of the story? I crossed the finish line with a 77-year-old great-grandfather!

“Does your overall time really matter? Absolutely not. Are you crowned because you planned, trained, prayed, and finished? Absolutely. This is how I approach everything: my job, my children, my devotions, and my exercise. Keep the rules.”

Moving Forward: “Do you have a schedule for prayer? If not, try setting one for the week and see if it improves your spiritual health.”