2 Timothy 1:8-12
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings 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 given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. 12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings 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 given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. 12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
Our testimony is not of us, but the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we cannot be ashamed of Him (though certainly of ourselves), and should not be ashamed to be associated with others who have a strong testimony of the gospel in word and deed. We should be glad as Paul was to suffer for Christ’s sake, not seeking compromise to avoid trouble and persecution. We have a holy calling, a call to reflect Christ and not to continue to fit in the world by sin or by living in the shadows of Christianity. He called us out purely by His own merit in grace, not according to our good accomplishments. The amazing part we tend to excuse away or avoid is that He clearly tells us His plans of and for us were before creation of us or anything else. He planned everything! When Christ came, He revealed His work and the eternal plan behind it to bring the death of death in the death and resurrection life of God’s own Son in our place. The life of eternity with God is given His children in place of our death and deserved ongoing suffering afterwards. He truly is the light of the world, giving us eyes to see! This is why we testify of His work and not merely our own salvation, why we preach and teach this great news of reconciliation and suffer for the message as He did. We have no shame to hide His grace, but echo Paul when he tells Timothy to know who we believe in and trust His word and work to preserve us through all things (even our own failures) into an assured place in eternity when He judges the world and makes all things new.
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