Called to be Prepared By Rev. Philip Bunch
n the past year of my life, God has certainly blessed me. He has blessed me in more ways, I’m sure, than I realize or comprehend. One way that my family has been especially blessed has been the addition of a precious son, Amos. Our Father has been so faithful to teach me more about His own dear Son through our little boy (think: a But probably my favorite lesson is this: the importance of recognizing His voice.
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At the time of writing this, my son is just shy of one year old, and his vocabulary is very limited (e.g., mama, dada, book, more). But you had better believe that I know his voice. I have made it my aim and mis- sion to know his little grunts and coos. My wife and I have celebrated his growing communication skills. We have relished in his infectious laughs. Even when surrounded by lots of other little ones, despite his not using words or calling our names, we know his voice. And this lesson has impressed upon my heart two truths: the need to know our Savior’s voice and the need to know that our Savior knows our voices.
Our Synod’s Moderator has prepared the theme “Advancing the Gos- pel” for the coming year. The emphasis this month is particularly fo- cused on our being Called to be Prepared. The idea for this comes from 2 Timothy 3:10-15. Though there are a host of good things to be gleaned from these verses, again I think that we can learn the two truths that I alluded to previously.
The Need to Know Our Savior’s Voice First, we need to know our Savior’s voice
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faithfulness or steadfastness when enduring sufferings for the name of Christ. He holds these together for at least one reason (as he spells verses 1-9): there were going to be deceivers in his day (cf. v13) . . . as there are in our day, and as there will always be. There are compet- ing voices all around us, impos- ters who do not teach the Gospel and the way of Jesus. There will be people who tell you that you can “have it all.” You can be a Christian but live a life devoted to pleasure or be a lover of mon- ey or ignore and deny the reality and power of sin. An even more dangerous false teaching is that you can be a Christian and nev- er suffer or that if you do suffer, then you aren’t really a Christian. THESE VOICES.
Instead, as he instructs young Timothy, listen to the voice of your Savior. Verse 14 instructs us to continue in what we have
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
September Synod Emphasis
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