“What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” [2 Timothy 1:13-14]
Every morning I go to work I enter a building and the first one I meet is the guard. He sits at a desk just inside the public entry. He’s there to make sure that all who enter that building belong there. He’s also there to protect those who do belong there.
Yesterday, we looked at the previous verse and Paul’s conviction that God was able to guard everything Paul had entrusted to Him, including his very life and death. Now Paul turns that around. He goes on to urge Timothy (and us) to guard what God has entrusted to him (and to us). Paul calls it that “good deposit.”
What is that “good deposit?” It’s the Good News—the Gospel. Paul refers to it as sound teaching, faith and love in Christ Jesus. It is the knowledge of God the Father as seen through the life, death and resurrection of the Son. Paul knew that the enemy of our soul is constantly on the prowl to steal that “good deposit” from us. He wants to rob us of the truth, destroy faith, and kill love. We need to be ever on guard against his efforts.
However, we must not think we are left alone in our efforts to guard that “good deposit” because Paul also reminds Timothy that the Holy Spirit who lives in us helps us to guard it.
Father, thank you for sending Your Spirit to give us the strength and wisdom to guard that “good deposit” You have left with us. Amen.
