Bible Verse of the Day Saturday July 8th ,2023

2 Timothy 1:15   You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.

There seemed to be an acute awareness in Paul’s letter to His young protégé that his time was growing short in his earthly life. The urgency in his writing emphasized the importance of remaining faithful to Christ Jesus during trials and tribulation, remaining firm to the truth of the gospel, and diligently showing ourselves as faithful messengers of God’s word to the world. In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he spoke of the multiple problems in the church, some even departing from the faith and being unfaithful in their responsibility to spread the gospel to a lost, dark, and dying world.

The Apostle Paul desired to impress on this young church leader that faithfulness is an essential quality of the person who has surrendered their life to spread the Gospel to all people. God has always been faithful to His Word, as Paul has remained faithful to mentor young Timothy, so Paul is encouraging Timothy also to stay loyal to His calling. Paul was grateful for Timothy's spiritual upbringing, and while he warned Timothy, and in extension you and I, that the life of a Christian was not going to be a bed of roses, he reminded him, and us, of the calling to tell the world about the saving grace of Christ Jesus. Paul further encouraged all whose eyes fall on His writing that His people should comprehend that we should consider the trials and tribulations of this life from the vantage point of God's perspective, which is an eternal perspective.

Paul encourages faithfulness that pleases God and identifies certain people that had become unfaithful in their missions for Christ Jesus. The Apostle even names two of them, Phygelus and Hermogenes, that not only deserted Paul but deserted their calling from God. There is nowhere else in the Bible that these two are named; however, their names have journeyed throughout the history of the Word of God as people who turned their backs on the Apostle Paul and are forever known for being unfaithful to the calling of God in their lives. There is such a contrast to Onesimus, who Paul identified as a faithful minister of the Gospel and a beloved brother. 

It is highly unlikely that our names will go down in God’s Word for our faithfulness or unfaithfulness. However, our names will come to God’s attention and if our names are recorded in the “Lamb’s Book of Life” we will receive an acknowledgement from God for our continued faithful service while we were in this life.

Revelation 21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.