“The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.” –2 Timothy 2:6 NKJV The final comparison used by Paul was one of a farmer. Ah! the hard-working and humble farmer! Of the three examples seen, a soldier can receive a medal of honor for his bravery and an athlete can win a medal for competing. But the farmer receives no reward or recognition for his hard and back-breaking efforts. What he has sown, he expects to reap, never…

“And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.”– 2 Timothy 2:5 NKJV What I believe Paul was trying to tell Timothy and us through the example of an athlete was the mindset. The first thing that all athletes do is learn how the game is played. Without understanding the rules, there can be no competing. If the rules were arbitrary, no one can win and yet everyone can be counted…

What does a soldier, an athlete and a farmer have in common? Well, they are the examples that Paul uses to exhort Timothy to be strong in faith and to continue in the good work in 2 Timothy 2:3-6. This short passage serves as an encouragement and teaches us the core principles of serving God. Timothy, besides his young and inexperienced age, faced many challenges pertaining to false doctrines, false teachers and persecution of the faith. And we all certainly…

“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” –2 Timothy 2:3-4 NKJV Paul’s use of a soldier as an example is not uncanny, because this exhortation was written at a time he was imprisoned by the Romans (at the onset of the Roman persecution of the early church, which lasted close to…