"I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands…" 2 Timothy 1:3-6

“...who saved us and CALLED us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began...” 2 Timothy 1:9

“For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.” Romans 14:7-8

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10

“I’m going to argue here that the sense of defilement is to great degree evoked by INFORMATION OVERLOAD - a sense that we are always receiving more sheer data than we know how to evaluate - and a more general feeling of SOCIAL ACCELERATION - the perception the world is not only changing, but changing faster and faster.” Alan Jacobs, Breaking Bread with the Dead

“That is why the real prob­lem of the Chris­t­ian life comes where peo­ple do not usu­al­ly look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morn­ing. All your wish­es and hopes for the day rush at you like wild ani­mals. And the first job each morn­ing con­sists sim­ply in shov­ing them all back; in lis­ten­ing to that oth­er voice, tak­ing that oth­er point of view, let­ting that oth­er larg­er, stronger, qui­eter life come flow­ing in. And so on, all day. Stand­ing back from all your nat­ur­al fuss­ings and fret­tings; COM­ING IN OUT OF THE WIND.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

FOUNDATIONAL REMINDERS

1. An inherited legacy of faith (2 Timothy 1:3-5)

To serve the present age,

my calling to fulfill,

O may it all my pow'rs engage to do my Master's will Arm me with watchful care as in Thy sight to live,

and now Thy servant, Lord, prepare a strict account to give!

Charles Wesley, A Charge to Keep I Have

2. Reciprocal joy in relationships (2 Timothy 1:4)

3. A life-embracing pursuit (2 Timothy 1:6)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

John McCrae, In Flanders Fields

QUESTIONS:

1. How do you stay grounded in eternal pursuits at a time of social acceleration (a rapidly changing world in the area of ethical norms)?

2. What does Book 1 in Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Roman emperor from 161-180 A.D.) teach us about living a purposeful life?

3. Who are some individuals in your past and present who are tirelessly building faith into your life?

4. What does it mean to “fan into flame the gift of God”?