For the Sake of Others

2 Timothy 2:10 (CEB) · Passing the Flame

“This is why I endure everything for the sake of those who are chosen by God so that they too may experience salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” — 2 Timothy 2:10 (CEB)

Paul names a direction for his endurance. He is not enduring just to endure. He is enduring for the sake of someone else. His suffering has a destination.

The difference between enduring and white-knuckling is direction. White-knuckling is a private fight with a closed horizon. Enduring for someone opens the horizon. Paul keeps going because there are people on the other side of his obedience. Some he knows. Some he will never meet.

The congregation gathered in Ephesus, the kid in the back of a house church copying letters by candlelight, the stranger two thousand years later reading this sentence on a phone. Paul is enduring for all of them. Including you.

Whose name can you put on your own enduring this week?

God of endurance, teach us to carry our hard things in your direction, not our own. Put people on the other side of our obedience, and hold us until we get there. Amen.