September 12 Daily Devotional

Monthly Theme:

In September we read Paul's letter to Titus and his very last letter, called 2 Timothy. Paul's concern is that the true gospel be preserved and proclaimed by a faithful church.

Bible Reading:

2 Timothy 1:3–7

Bible Text:

I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother ... and in your mother (2 TIm. 1:5).

Devotional:

Timothy, a young, timid, but faithful Christian minister, was the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother (Acts 16: 1). Fifteen or twenty years before Paul wrote this letter, Timothy learned to know Christ through Paul's instruction.

The remarkable thing is that Paul does not talk to Timothy as if life began for him when he came to know Christ. Timothy's Jewish grandmother already had "the faith." So did his mother, Eunice. Moreover, Paul said he himself served God "as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience."

Here we learn that a Jew may remain a Jew when he or she becomes a Christian. But a Gentile becomes a child of Abraham when he or she accepts Christ.

The faith of the church—in Texas and Manitoba, in Ghana and India—must first of all be the faith of the apostles. Unless our faith is the historic, apostolic faith, it's not authentic.

The apostolic faith is the only true continuation of the Jewish faith. This faith is fulfilled and perfected by the appearance of Messiah Jesus, Savior of the World. In other words, our faith is built on the apostolic teachings of the New Testament, but the New Testament may not and cannot be torn from the Old Testament.

The church is the legitimate continuation of Israel. And Timothy's Christian faith is like that of his Jewish grandmother.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published in 1994. This edition is copyright by Faith Alive Christian Resources, from whom may be ordered Daylight, the predecessor of Twilight.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this edition of Twilight are from the New International Version

Be sure to read the "Preface" and the "Acknowledgments" by the author.