Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. (2 Timothy 1:13-17 NKJV)
There’s something about this passage that could easily be overlooked by many: Paul was not only demonstrating how committed he was to Jesus Christ in that he was willing to be imprisoned for the preaching of the gospel; he was also expressing emotional pain as he reflected on the idea of how certain people had turned away from him. Indeed, Paul was going through one of the darkest times of his life as he was in chains for essentially loving people enough to share Jesus with them. And when these people should have been by his side offering him their support, they shamelessly turned away from him instead. It’s likely that they did this because they didn’t like something about his message. After all, the idea of turning away from someone presupposes that you were with them at some point. Hence many threw him out of their lives like they would have thrown out their trash, and Paul was obviously deeply hurt by this.
And here’s the point that I would like to emphasize here: Just because everyone might leave you in a certain place for taking a strong stand for Jesus Christ, that doesn’t mean some from other places won’t be willing to go out of their way to express their love for you and what you stand for. In other words, all those in Asia turned away from Paul and his message, but Onesiphorus did not abandon him, but sought him out “very zealously” to express his love for him. What a wonderful thought it is to know that someone would actually seek you out zealously during your darkest hour to let you know that you are loved–to let you know that you are not alone. Oh if only we would be so committed to one another like this we would see wonders unfold before our eyes!
Therefore, don’t be surprised when people turn away from you for taking a strong stand for Jesus Christ. Even people who claim to be Christians will do this. Nevertheless, don’t let it discourage you either. For if you truly are standing for Jesus Christ then it is not you whom they are turning away from, but Him, because they are rejecting the inspiration of your work. The devil will maliciously use people in this way to try to get you to give up on doing what God wants you to do with your life. Thus he will influence people to turn away from you–even those who are close to you–with the intent to cause you to think that you are doing something wrong. Be cautious therefore, and test everything by the Holy Word of God. If what you are doing finds its basis in God’s word, then you have nothing to be ashamed of.
The nature of our circumstances and how people respond to us do not measure the true value of our work; rather, our commitment to living in complete conformity to the Word of God is what determines true value.
Those who turn away from you because they don’t like what you are doing for God are the ones who ought to be ashamed. Not you. And one day they will stand before God and have to give an account for this. For when they should have stayed by your side and offered their support to you, they turned away from you because they couldn’t handle your testimony. That is, they didn’t want the truth as it is in Jesus, but merely wanted a cheap gospel and a shallow message instead.
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