Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (2 Tim. 1:14)
Banks of the ancient world were nonexistent as we know them today. People couldn’t run down to the First National Bank to deposit their money. So they took their valuables to the temple for safe-keeping. It was considered a sacred duty to keep whatever a person deposited so it would be there when they returned to claim it.
In verse 12, Paul wrote, God is “able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” Whatever good Paul did, it was deposited with God. Paul could preach, teach, pray, and counsel, but he could not guarantee the results. He left that in God’s hands.
The amazing thing is that it also works the other way. God entrusts something to us too. If he wants a child taught, a sermon preached, a sorrowing person comforted, he finds someone he can trust to do it. Paul challenged Timothy, whatever God has entrusted to you—that “good deposit”—you must “guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”
How do we guard it? According to verse 13, we must do four things: Be true to the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Avoid false teaching by staying true to God. Practice faith in him every day. Love everyone with the help of the Holy Spirit. It’s a sacred trust.
Keep your guard up; God is depending on you.
Ron McClung lives in Fishers, Indiana, with his wife Carol. He has written his weekly column, Positive Perspective, for more than thirty years.
© 2019 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
