“This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.” (1 Timothy 4:10 NLT)
A few points of clarification before we continue. First, Paul’s struggle wasn’t to gain hope or to meet the demands of God to secure his own hope, but because his hope was already “in the living God.” Salvation in Christ is by faith alone. Works are an expression of our existing and secured salvation, not an effort to earn or maintain it.
Secondly, Paul mentions that “our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.” Paul’s deliberate effort here is to amplify the fact the God of Creation is present and made manifest in and through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. Jesus IS God in human flesh, and is the Savior of the world, of all people. What does that mean? Does that mean that all people are or will be saved? No, that’s why he added, “particularly of all believers.”
Only those who believe, who have put their faith and trust in the living Savior are born again of the Spirit and filled with His empowering presence. The blood of Christ is adequate to save “all people,” but all people haven’t and won’t repent, believe and confess their need of the Lord Jesus; thus, while He’s the only Savior of all people, clearly implying there is no other, all people won’t be saved.
The purpose of our struggles as a Jesus follower isn’t to cripple, delay, or stop us in our progress as a believer, but to better equip us in our efforts to allow the Spirit to enable us to stand strong for Him. In much the same way as those who exercise, workout, run or in other ways seek to stay in shape, struggles give us the resistance we need to build our spiritual muscles.
Max Lucado says it this way: “Don’t see your struggle as an interruption to life but as preparation for life.” If the faith we claim isn’t ever exercised, might we have reason to doubt it exists? Our faith is living, active, and growing or it’s dying or nonexistent. As Jesus followers we don’t have the luxury of sitting around waiting for something to happen, we must be proactive at submitting ourselves to the Spirit’s leading as He enlists us into the service of our Master, the Lord Jesus.
Recently I read a story of a young woman who was on an upper level of one of the Twin Towers on 9-11. When the plane hit she quickly made the decision to leave the building and found safety before her building collapsed. What she said afterwards arrested my spirit: “I only wish I’d urged my friend to come with me!” We can’t let our struggles block the path to someone’s salvation. Hell is real, much worse than death in a collapsing building, as horrible as that is, and we must not risk forgetting to warn everyone we possibly can to yield their life to Jesus while there’s still time, to come with us to Jesus!
Struggles aren’t caused by our love for Jesus, they’re just part of what it means to be human, but they’re sometimes intensified because we hate the devil. He’s going to do all within his limited power to assault us and keep our focus off reaching lost people for Jesus. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but our most vulnerable time to be attacked by the enemy is shortly after a spiritual breakthrough or victory. Our struggles sometimes intensify during or following an effort to be most available and useful to our Master.
He’s our hope and our goal is to share that hope with as many people as possible in the very short time we have on this earth. Struggles are designed by the Lord to make us better, not make us bitter. Stand strong for Jesus regardless of your struggles and let the devil know where he’s going and that you’re doing your part in keeping as many as possible out of his ugly reach.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 