2 Timothy 4:1-8
Slow and Steady Wins the Race

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

New Revised Standard Version

I am reminded by the Aesop fable of the Tortoise and the Hare when I read Paul's instructions to Timothy. As Paul looks back over his life, he recognizes the greatest service he gave to God was not with brilliant sermons and dramatic witnessing events, but in the persistence of continuing to do the work of God, day after day.

Verse 2 has a couple of nuggets to examine more closely. First is the phrase translated here as "whether the time is favorable or unfavorable." The pair of Greek words is eukairos and akairos, more literally translated "in season" and "out of season." That's foolishness to my human way of thinking--why waste my time sharing God's love when the time is wrong? The answer is that, in God's time, the time is never wrong. We will frequently fail to see the results we expected from our efforts, but God never allows our work, offered as a living sacrifice to God, to be wasted. God will use our efforts as God wants to use them, not as we want to use them. When we do see results from our Christian service, we always must remember the results are not ours, for God selects and brings about the results, not us.

The second nugget in verse 2 is the phrase "with the utmost patience", which is translated as "longsuffering" in the King James Version. The fundamental principle from Paul is we are never to give up, because God never gives up. So often, we want to "draw the line" with someone, to explain our expectations for them and to reject them if they fail to meet our expectations. Paul did just that with a young man, John Mark, as told in the brief story in Acts 15:37-39. Paul felt such an urgency to his calling that he did not want to bring with him someone who didn't show stamina and commitment in a previous journey. His negative opinion of John Mark was strong enough to split Paul from his evangelist partner, Barnabas. Much later, as Paul writes the 2 Timothy letter to another young man, he would have known that Barnabas was right about John Mark. This young man who Paul considered unworthy had done great work with Barnabas and Peter--and had written the first Gospel account of the life of Jesus.

Look how Paul has grown patience! Facing the end of his life and ministry, Paul's human side would have expressed frustration at all Paul had not accomplished, and we would expect to read an urgency in his instructions to Timothy to hurry up and do everything that Paul had left undone. Instead, Paul urges this slow, steady, patient, loving pace to the work of God.

We might also expect Paul to express frustration with himself. How many years he had wasted becoming a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, opposing Christianity! How wrong he was about John Mark, and likely about many others over the years! But Paul has patience with himself, too. There are no regrets in verse 7, just an acknowledgement that he has "fought the good fight" and followed God faithfully. Patience with others. Patience with self. Patience and confidence that God will bring about what is best in God's time.

The only things that count are our faithfulness to God and our love to people, just as Jesus taught. Slow and steady in faithful, patient obedience wins the race.