Come Together

It seems to be the now prevalent Western mindset that, "I am man/woman", (thump chest loudly), "I need no one ... "  In many ways this has been the Hollywood take on what it took for a person to overcome the wild American frontier, the hearty individualist whom driven by manifest destiny strove forward and conquered a new land!  Thank you Hollywood for that spin on history ...

In all of my reading of diaries of the pioneers, frontiersmen, explorers, etc - there was one (1!), only one, like that!  Without exception most of the fur traders, explorers, etc started out as missionaries using fur to finance their finding, living and witnessing to the American Indian.

Wait a minute!  No they were loners, they ate anything that moved and often each other!  They took what they wanted.  They killed all whom opposed.  Yeah, right.

These "individualists" traveled in groups, died in groups, were wholly dependent upon one another for survival, companionship - every aspect of life.  There was no "me first" or "only me" mentality, that is Hollywood's effect on culture, not real life.  And I mentioned the exception, yeah he did not fare too well - the other trappers hung him at the first fur trade rendezvous ...  You want to do your own thing, don't expect others to be supportive of the idea in real life.

So aside from this sickness throughout Western Culture now, we were born with an engrained desire, need, requirement for others - to just survive the day to day struggles in life.

And Timothy, dependent upon Paul, now faces his church quite alone.  He is not like them, his background is different, his age is below expectation, and he is supposed to do this single handed?  No, he still needs help to survive.  Luckily as Christians we have the expectation and requirement to be there for one another, in all aspects of life - and particularly in prayer.

2 Timothy 1:15 - 18

Acknowledgement
The Roman Provence of Asia was failing.
The Christian Church of Ephesus was failing.
Paul is facing his own death.
Paul feels his loved ones have deserted him.
Paul feels betrayed, abandoned, discouraged.

So, acknowledge the awful in your life!
Then prepare to move on from it.

Turn to Praise
Look at what Paul does in this section, he praises Onesiphourus!
Find the good around you and praise God for that!
Be thankful today, in all things.

Life can be very bleak at times, especially so when our eyes are on ourselves and our failed desires.
I remember laughing so hard one day when life sucked so bad for me in my early Christian days and the one working with me said, "You know when life sucks and you don't want to pray?  That is when you need to pray the most."  I was laughing because all I would have done is pray!  And, maybe that is what I should have been doing ... instead of concentrating on the negative impact of what it was taking to drag me out of the world and into real life as a Christian!

Become a Blessing
Everyone around you, including you needs encouragement!
Be that encourager to others!
When you see a need think on how to help fill it!
Fund what you can, find resources for what you can not!
Help others to succeed with your help!
And be willing to accept encouragement and help as well!

The Rest of the Story
So how did Timothy do?  History becomes silent because people do not connect the dots.  Paul dies around 60 AD, his head lobbed off after teaching his last class, at their request he baptizes his Roman guards, whose heads are then removed as well.  Then probably around 69 AD John suddenly appears in Ephesus, if he came when James was murdered by the Rabbis in Jerusalem.  He may have come later as well but we know that Mary lived and was buried outside of Ephesus, so in 69 AD she would have already been close to 90!  Ancient for anyone in that day and age!  Timothy's church was given the last living apostle for maybe the next thirty or so years!

Today the Ephesus church lies in ruins.  The Christian believers all fell into apostate beliefs throughout Asia - the lure of the Gnostic belief system was too strong a pull for something as simple as Christianity to stand against.  The Gnostics might have even survived to this day - if a major earthquake had not flattened all of the Provence of Asia.  In the end, God silenced the Gnostics and their "mysteries" of the Christian faith.  Their churches flattened, their books buried until the 1950's, their leaders more than likely dead as well.

Today the Western Church lies in ruins.  It drank the Kool-Aid of Hollywood and the ascended man.  It forgot there was a basis for truth and accepted every lie which became convenient.  And man, left with no standard for belief, much less life, was left to his own resources to become the "individual" and chart a course through life of their own choosing - and in the end blaming God for all of their mistakes along the way ...

Throw away the falsehood in your life!  Find/pray to find, those whom can join with you in truth and encourage one another to make a difference in each other's lives as well your own and ultimately the world around you - after-all, that is why you are here.