“Nose to the grindstone”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Wednesday, June 29, 2022

2 Timothy 4:1-8 (Forward, p. 62) CEV p. 1252

What a curious figure of speech or idiom this is. Its generally intended meaning, in figurative terms is to work long and hard at some task. In literal terms it seems quite absurd, yet that is exactly what it originally meant. Someone sharpening a knife or axe would have his or face very close to the grindstone in order to ensure that the desired sharpness was being achieved. Of course, this meaning no longer applies, only the sense of diligent and sustained effort at some task.

The author of today’s Scripture passage certainly would have felt comfortable with using this phrase in its figurative sense, as this was exactly what he was counselling both in the case of Timothy and in his own case.

With Timothy, his words have to do specifically with preaching or teaching God’s word. He is to keep at it and to do so willingly, even when it is not at all popular or wildly accepted or listened to. In fact, he suggests that a time will come when people will refuse to listen to or accept the truth but will turn away from the truth. Instead, they will accumulate for themselves only those teachers who tell them what they want to hear. Thereby, they will devote themselves to listening to, hearing, what amount only to being senseless stories. But Timothy is to persist with the message, regardless of whatever flak or suffering he may encounter, and to do so with a certain graciousness and much patience, even when he is forced to correct them and point out their sins.

Paul, if he indeed be the author of this letter, says that this due diligence, this ‘nose to the grindstone’, is exactly what has characterized his ministry. He has fought well, finished the course and been faithful and so expects God’s reward on the day of judgment. And so it will be, he says, for everyone—Timothy included—who has kept ‘his or her nose to the grindstone’, everyone who has remained faithful and diligent in whatever task God has assigned. So will it be for each of us. Amen.

Forward Notes: “As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (verses 4-6).

Commemoration: Saint Peter and Saint Paul

“We celebrate Saint Peter and Saint Paul on the same day not because of their partnership in ministry but because tradition holds that they died on the same day, or, possibly, that their remains were moved on the same day.

“It is nonetheless appropriate to celebrate their lives and work together: between the two of them, they were the architects of the church at its beginning. Their discernment of the activity of the Spirit led to an understanding that Jesus was the Messiah not just for the Jews but for the whole world.

“Each one also reflects how even those who have rejected Christ, out of cowardice in Peter’s case and zeal for a particular understanding of religious teaching in Paul’s, can become powerful vessels of holiness and growers of the household of God. Peter and Paul built a foundation of the church strong enough that when the time of their departure came, a new generation was prepared to keep the faith that has been handed down to us to this day.”

Moving Forward: “How can you help secure the foundation of the church?”