Seven days with Paul_TIED UP

Bulgarian lifeguard Yane Petkov won a world record for swimming with his hands and feet tied together. He swam 3,380-metres through the water! But apparently the whole thing wasn’t quite challenging enough—so he also wrapped himself in a sack!

The patience and strength he must have had to keep moving while being so ‘tied up’ amazes me. The apostle Paul showed this kind of determination as he served God. Through all the challenges he faced, Paul continued to preach and write encouragement and teaching to churches and friends.

Paul wrote his last letter to Timothy when he was alone in a Roman prison, awaiting execution. Although chains kept him tied down, he thanked God that the good news about Jesus could never be chained (2 TIMOTHY 2:9). Nothing could stop it spreading and changing lives. Paul said, “I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation” (V.10 NLT).

Things like illness, injuries and disabilities need care and attention, but they can’t stop God’s plan for us or the way He can make Jesus known through us. As Paul came to understand, God’s power is made perfect in our weakness, because that’s when we have to rely on Him (2 CORINTHIANS 12:9). When we do, it’ll show to the people around us. God will use us to make Jesus known—even if we feel ‘tied up’!

Completing the picture . . .

Paul was imprisoned again in Rome and many believe he was executed under Nero. During his last imprisonment he wrote to Timothy, who he had mentored, and who was now a church leader at Ephesus (1 TIMOTHY 1:3). In his last written words to Timothy, Paul told him to stick to the words of the Bible and sound teaching (2 TIMOTHY 1:13), that his life with Jesus was the most important thing for him to guard (V.14), to take his stand with Jesus as seriously as if he were a soldier (2:3-4), to avoid false teachers (VV.14-19), to expect persecution (3:12) and to use the Bible as his basis for everything (VV.16-17). Paul signed off by saying: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness” (4:7-8).