2 Timothy 4:5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

To be honest, every word in these eight verses resonates in my heart and grabs my attention, so I had difficulty knowing which verse to write on. However, as much as I identify with it all, and indeed long for the time when verses seven and eight will apply to me, I feel that at the moment this verse is most applicable to my place in God’s plan. We all have trouble focusing on where we are right now, either longing for days gone by, in joyful memory or a desire to correct past mistakes, or placing our hopes and/or fears on some future time. (We all have eternity to look forward to, but I’m talking about this life.) Paul is here being extremely practical. We all get thrown by events at times, and Paul is telling us to keep an even keel. He is reminding us that we will indeed have hardships, but we need to suck it up and keep going. “Do the work of an evangelist” is in a sense a restatement of Jesus’s famous statement just before His ascension: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) “Being witnesses” and “doing the work of an evangelist” are essentially the same thing: letting people know that salvation is available through faith in Christ. And then there’s the kicker: “discharge all the duties of your ministry.” We are quick to want to do what we see someone else doing, or to look down on people who aren’t doing what we are doing. God has a unique plan and ministry for each of His children. There will be similarities, but differences are the rule rather than the exception. We are all to seek God for what He wants us to do, “with all [our] heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” (Colossians 3:23) If we will live this way, then we will have peace and joy the world knows nothing about, and great assurance in everything.

I feel like the whole passage was written directly to me. This particular verse has always caught my attention because I am gifted as a teacher, not an evangelist, but Paul says I’m to do that work anyway. Thinking about it, the confirmation I had that God had really bap­tized me in His Holy Spirit was that I was talking to a total stranger about Jesus, and I remembered Acts 1:8. Excuses don’t cut it with God! I tend to think of myself as pretty level-headed, but too often I come across to others as angry, and that’s not good at all. I indeed need to “keep my head” in all situations! When hardships come, I’m not to whine or have a pity party, but push through by the grace and strength of God. (2 Corinthians 12:9) I am to keep my focus on what God wants me to do, and do it fully as an offering to Him. I am in the last stages of officially retiring from secular teaching, but I will never “retire” from being a servant and child of God, until I leave this life. I am in remarkably good health for 75, and that is to be used for God’s purposes and His glory, and not wasted. And I’ve been in this long enough to know that there are plenty of blessings along the way.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your presence in the day yesterday, and for Your plans for today as well. Help me be properly prepared for speaking at the interdenominational prayer meeting on Wednesday, and for speaking at the conference next month. And help me be Your agent in all the things that don’t appear in my date book, so that in all things Your will may be done, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!