The Bible is anything but a book of formulas, it’s a book about relationships—God-with-man and man-with-man. Occasionally there does appear to be a formula that needs to be taken seriously. In 2 Timothy 1:7 Paul writes, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”  Personally, there have been too many times in my life when I’ve been timid, felt powerless, loveless and undisciplined. This verse is a wakeup call to me, and I think, to the church at large. In our denomination I’ve witnessed churches being bold and exercising what they thought was discipline, but lacking love, they have lost their power. Our denomination has come dangerously close to losing our power—with God and man—because we’ve stopped demonstrating love.

            414 Compassion is a call to return to what God has intended for His children. We’re not to be timid in ministering to our neighborhood, but must do it with a combination of power, love and discipline. If we fail to love, it won’t matter how much discipline we apply, we’ll lose the power to change lives.

            Just prior to this, Paul wrote about Timothy’s heritage of faith. He said, “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.” My investments for retirement have taken a terribly blow—as has yours—and I’ll be fortunate to have enough set aside to care for Judy and me after we stop working. It is doubtful that I’ll be able to leave our children much of anything in the way of an inheritance. What we can leave them is a heritage of faith. It’s my prayer that we will finish strong this race we’re running and leave our children, grandchildren, and (hopefully) great grandchildren, a strong example of faith lived out.