The second chapter of 2 Timothy is full of a series of illustrations that Paul is using to get a point across to Timothy: Stay strong in the faith. In last week’s passage, we saw the image of a son, and the beginnings of the image of a soldier. In this week’s passage, the idea of a soldier will be completed as well as a picture of an athlete.

You can see this week’s passage in 2 Timothy 2:4-5:

The images that Paul uses as illustrations throughout this chapter bring home forcefully to Timothy, and the rest of Paul’s readers, that faith is like anything else in life. It takes endurance and effort. There is a level of commitment necessary to stay faithful.

I see three lessons to be gained from these verses. Two come from the image of the soldier, and the final one comes from the picture of the athlete.

Give wholehearted devotion to your ministry

In this image of a soldier, Paul draws Timothy’s attention to several details. First, the soldier doesn’t permit himself to get entangled in civilian affairs. This is an image that most of Paul’s readers would have been familiar with since they lived under the shadow of harsh Roman authority. But a good soldier doesn’t get involved in the affairs of civilians. To do so would be to shirk his military responsibility. The idea here is that anything that draws the soldiers attention away from his primary line of duty was to be avoided and ignored. Those things can come later, but while enlisted, everything centers around that duty.

In the same manner, God’s servant must set aside other business and duties that would hinder his effective service. The priority must be God’s calling. That’s not to say that God’s servants must not have any of these other things, but that the “pecking order” of priority must be in the proper order.

For example, in my life, my calling as a servant of God is my top priority. In order to grow and serve God, this must always be at the top of the list. After that, my relationship with my wife, and then my children come next. Finally, my position as a minister of our church comes next, because much of what I do in that role is overflow from the higher priorities that I keep.

Seek to please the one who enlisted you in that ministry

But why? What’s the point of serving so wholeheartedly? Because the soldier wants to please his commanding officer, or more literally, the one who enlisted him. Only when our loyalty and devotion are fully given to the person and the work of Jesus Christ can we please God, the one who enlisted us.

The main goal of any army is to be so completely united as to be one. The entire army must move with the will and purpose of the commander, or the military goals will not be accomplished. The same is true with service to God. We must unite, being of one mind, one heart, one purpose, so as to completely obey and please Christ.

Compete according to the rules

Finally, in verse 5, Paul shifts to the image of the athlete. If an athlete aspires to greatness, he must endure hardship. Training is hard. Ask anyone who has ever attempted to train for a marathon, or some other fitness challenge. It takes effort, hard work, and a strong self-discipline. Before the athlete ever stands in the winner’s circle, there are months of hard work and training, keeping to a strict regimen of exercise, rest and eating.

If these “rules” are not adhered to, the the athlete won’t perform well, and won’t win the prize. In order to win the prize, self-denial and self-discipline must carry the day. The same is true for the servant of God. Loyalty to his rules and discipline must be in place in order to see the end result. This requires the utmost of our efforts and striving in order to achieve.

There are days when it would be nice to relax my guard and ease up on my self-discipline. But to do so would be to invite temptation and sin to my doorstep. There are days when I am tired and I would like to stop or give up. But to do so would be to allow my flesh to win, and ignore the moving and leading of the Holy Spirit.

Instead, we keep on, even when we think we can go no further, knowing that we must. The good news is that we aren’t making this effort alone. Our strength come from another. And that is great news.

Even though there are two separate images displayed in these verses, the ideas they present go together hand in hand. Serving God takes hard work and strong self-will. But God knows that we can do this, because he’s given us the Helper.

My encouragement to you this week is to stay strong. Keep on serving. And don’t give up.

Which of these three lessons resonates with you the most? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.