“Thou Therefore, My Son, Be Strong.”
By H.
PAUL had a philosophical way of looking at trials and discouraging circumstances. To Timothy he wrote an account of the unfaithfulness of the brethren in Asia. “Thou knowest,” he said, “that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me.” And almost the next thought expressed is, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” There were many who would turn away from the Gospel and spurn the messengers of truth; there were few faithful ones to be found in the time of adversity; therefore, because of these conditions, be strong. Closing his first letter to the Corinthian brethren, he wrote of his anticipated visit9with them, after a season at Ephesus, where he said, “A great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” Such conditions might have discouraged a weaker, more fearful man, but to him the presence of adversaries meant opportunity to work. In the same letter he exhorts the brethren, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” His own example can never be said to belie his words. And his example can be followed by every worker in the same great cause for which he labored and gave his life.