2 Timothy 4:16
16 At [en] my [mou] first [protos] answer [apologia] no man [oudeis] stood [sumparaginomai] with me, [moi] but [alla] all [pas] men forsook [egkataleipo] me: [me] I pray God that it
may [logizomai] not [me] be laid [logizomai] to
their charge. [autos] KJV-Interlinear
16 At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted
me; may it not be counted against them. NASB
In
the Roman court system, there are two hearings. The first is to establish the
charges and the second is to establish innocence or guilt.
Paul
is referring to the first appearance.
And
in that hearing, apparently of those people who were with Paul, none stood up
in defense for Paul.
The
word for stood, ‘sumparaginomai,’ means to stand with, to
speak for.
During the latter years
of the 60’s A.D., there was tremendous persecution in Rome. Nero was burning the
city and blaming the Christians, Christians were being burned and butchered in
the coliseum, and just to be a Christian
let alone profess it, was extremely dangerous.
So, many folks ran away from
Rome, and certainly those who were with Paul, ran away from him as well.
But
here, Paul forgives them and prays that their fears and abandonment are not
held against them.
And
in life in general, we are all going to face situations where we have to make a
decision either for or against Christ and our faith.
For
some it may be just the day to day pressures of life wherein we could easily
get frustrated or dejected or unhappy, and begin to look for someone to blame,
in order to make our feeling sorry for ourselves, more acceptable to us.
For
others, life may be filed with social choices allowing us to reject Christ in
order to join in, or get ostracized from the fun things of life as we view
them. In some cultures, Christianity may
very well come with a death sentence, because of the fanaticism of other
religions.
But
for whatever reason, all things in life happen, not by accident, but for a good
reason. And therein lies the test of your
character. Do you stand by doctrinal
principles or do you run or condemn? Do
you look to Christ for help, or do you whine about your life?
Our
purpose in this life is not to succeed in this world, not to necessarily have
it easy in this life, but to prepare for the next world, and with that
preparation comes many challenges and tests, that could easily push you to the
edge of your wits. Remember that this is
the devils world and he desperately wants you to fail.
The
big question is, how will you react to pressures when they strike?
Some
folks get upset at a broken fingernail, while others get upset with messed up
financial transactions or storm losses.
Certainly
those folks back then, had Nero to keep them looking over their shoulder, and
death or torture, only an accusation away.
Nothing
in life happens by accident. God is
there for those who are positive, poised, confessed and growing. To them, all pressures should be of no
consequence, for their future is far more important than the present.
For
those who fall apart over any type of pressure, there is a much longer road of
testing and more testing and more testing, until they simply give up or until
they finally get it.
What
do you suppose that you need to do in order to make life easier on yourself?
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