The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

2 Timothy 1:3-12, “I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day,

4 longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.

5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

6 For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

8 Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

12 For this reason, I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

What is your foremost treasure? What do you treasure exceedingly more than anything else? Before you reply, let me note that beyond everything else, the Apostle Paul considered the LORD Jesus Christ first and foremost in his life. Christ was continually in his thoughts. He trusted nothing other than the One who had transformed his life from that of a persecutor of the Christian faith to its chief proclaimer.

What a formidable change would occur in our lives were we to put Christ foremost. Those things we fear would disappear. Christ would replace them with the glory of His promises. The things we embrace, trusting they will erase the fears and intimidations that move in upon us, will be erased from our thinking and replaced with Him by His warm, reassuring Word, the Holy Scriptures.

Heartily in Christ,

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

United States of America

“We will never know that Christ is all we need

Until He becomes all that we have.” –Corrie ten Boom