Guarding the Precious Treasure

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"You have been trusted with a wonderful treasure. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you." (2Ti 1:14, Contemporary English)

In the first letter Paul wrote to Timothy, he urged him to "guard the treasure you were given! Guard it with your life." (1Ti 6:20, Message). He reiterates it again in this second letter. We often repeat those things that are most important.

Timothy had been entrusted with a wonderful treasure -- the ability, the opportunity, and the power to effectively communicate the truth about Jesus in a world filled with pagan beliefs. Paul was urging him to not take it for granted, nor to leave it unattended. For the treasure is of inestimable worth; so much so that an adversary is always at work, devising schemes whereby he may deprive us of it.

It is the same for us today. Our world is over-run with paganism and hedonism, along with huge doses of socialism, communism, and atheism. In a day of increasing encroachment by the powers of darkness, perhaps the opportunity to let our light shine was never more significant than now.

Thus, for those of us who love the Lord and His Word, we -- like Timothy of old -- must guard the precious treasure with the help of the Holy Spirit, lest it fall idly unattended and we miss out of one of History's epic moments.

In other words, conduct your affairs with a strong sense of security -- insuring that the ability, the opportunity, and the power which the Lord Jesus has entrusted to you to communicate truth to others does not become ripped off by the schemes of the devil in the day of global crisis.
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