Embarrassment
by
I wonder how good you are at remembering Bible verses? I have to confess, I’m not so good. I have learnt a few, but the repertoire of verses stored in my heart is far fewer than I’d ideally like. One verse that I wish I’d learned a while ago is 2 Timothy 1:7. “Why?” you may ask.
A number of years ago, I was in a Sunday service of the church I pastored, and we had a guest speaker. After spending much of the night before helping with an urgent pastoral matter, I’d made it to the service, but I was tired. As I sat listening to the speaker, with my mind chewing over the previous night’s difficulties, I was suddenly aware that he was addressing me from the front.
In fact, he had asked me a specific question. “Tell us what 2 Timothy 1:7 says,” he said, “for I know you’ll know it!” Sadly, at that moment, in full view of a packed church, all I could do was to stare back at him, looking completely blank, my mind suddenly empty of absolutely everything. I didn’t know it. It was one of those moments when you just want the ground to open up and swallow you whole. I felt that I’d been busted!
Now everybody knew what I was only too aware of. I didn’t know the Bible anywhere near as well as I wished I did. It wasn’t a pleasant moment, and afterwards I went round and round many wise and wonderful retorts that I could have given.
But sadly, at that moment, all I could do was to sit like a rabbit caught in a headlight, frozen with embarrassment and fear. What would they think of me? This is especially ironic given the verse itself. ‘For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.’
Thankfully God does not call us to be perfect. He knows full-well we can’t be. But He doesn’t want us to live in fear. And He doesn’t want us to sit in self-condemnation either. Yes, we’ll get stuff wrong, and often we will be found out, but none of this comes as a surprise to God. He loves me whether I can quote 2 Timothy 1:7 or not. What a relief that I’m not loved on merit but simply because of His grace!
Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.
