Living Like God Is in Control

Doesn’t it feel like the world is in total chaos right now? It can be pretty scary to feel this way, not knowing how the future will turn out and what dangers might await you.

In times of uncertainty, worry, and doubt, I find myself going to the same verse in Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” These words have the power to encourage by themselves, but in the context of 2 Timothy they become even more inspiring.

As Paul wrote 2 Timothy, the only thing he knew for certain was his imminent death. He was imprisoned and left to rot in a place intended to rob him of any sense of joy. Surrounded by darkness and decay, Paul’s Roman captors were certain they could break his spirit. Yet Paul did what he had been doing for many years: He wrote letters to believers. This letter was his second written to Timothy, the young man he had mentored and had taken with him in ministry.