“Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.” (1 Timothy 4:16 NLT)

Have you ever fallen unexpectedly? It happened to me several years ago. I was riding my bike on my way to meet my wife at a restaurant for breakfast. Unbeknownst to me, someone had loosened the levers that held the front tire on my bike. As I was crossing a street and approaching the curb, I pulled up on the handlebars. The handlebars and wheel forks pulled up with me. The wheel did not. I ran into the curb, went over the front of the bike, and hit the ground face-first. I didn’t know it was coming, so I didn’t have time to brace myself for the fall. I blacked out for a few seconds. When I came to, some fellow was standing over me. He asked, “Are you okay?” I said I was fine. I wasn’t fine. I was bloodied and bruised. It’s hard to be fine after a fall you didn’t see coming.

It’s tempting to say that the same thing applies to unexpected spiritual falls. But I suggest to you that when people fall away from the Lord—when they crash and burn, spiritually speaking—there are always steps leading up to the event. Maybe the people involved weren’t fully aware of the steps, but that doesn’t change the fact that those steps were taking place. We need to realize that nobody falls away overnight or immediately. There’s always a process that unfolds over a period of time.

The apostle Paul urged his protégé Timothy not to allow such a process to get started in his life. His words apply to every believer. “Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16 NLT).

We must talk the talk and walk the walk. Our words and actions should bring glory to God. People should be able to see Jesus’ life-changing impact in us. We do that by staying true to what is right—that is, studying, understanding, and applying God’s Word.

Sometimes we get careless in our approach to Scripture. We listen to people who have ulterior motives in their interpretation of the Bible. We try to stretch God’s Word to fit our political or social agendas.

Keep in mind, though, that the serpent’s temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden began with four seemingly harmless words: “Did God really say . . . ?” (Genesis 3:1 NLT). If your enemy can put distance between you and God’s Word, or if he can cause you to doubt or twist what Scripture is really saying, he can make you vulnerable to attack. He can prime you for a fall.

You can maintain your spiritual balance by holding fast to God’s Word. If you support yourself with His truths, you can walk with confidence.

Reflection question: In what areas do you need to watch your step, spiritually speaking?

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“As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.” (2 Timothy 4:6 NLT)

When you take a trip, you have to leave at a certain time. If your flight departs at 8 o’clock, you have to account for traffic, parking, getting through security, and finding your gate. You need to allow time for all of them. You have to prepare for your departure if you want to arrive at your destination as planned. Of course, how you approach your departure will depend on how you feel about your destination.

I remember taking a trip to North Carolina that I wasn’t looking forward to. The weather there was hot and very humid. And I had a three-hour layover in Chicago. It’s safe to say that I wasn’t eagerly anticipating the trip. The very next week, however, I was scheduled to fly to Hawaii. And I was eagerly anticipating that trip. It all comes down to destination for me. If I’m going to a place I don’t want to go to, I dread the trip. But if I’m going to a place I do want to go, I look forward to the trip. I don’t mind the travel, even if I’m sitting in coach with a person in front of me fully reclined. It’s okay. The destination makes everything else worth the journey.

In 2 Timothy 4:6, the apostle Paul was anticipating a different kind of departure. “As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near” (NLT).

Paul had lived a remarkably dangerous life. He offered a glimpse of it in 2 Corinthians 11:24–27:

Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. (NLT)

Yet, through it all, there’s no indication in Scripture that Paul ever thought the time of his death was near. Until 2 Timothy 4:6.

There’s no trace of sadness or regret in his announcement—only victory. In the next verse, he declared, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful” (NLT).

More importantly, Paul was excited about his destination. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord” (NLT).

Are you excited about your ultimate destination? Will you leave this life with a sense of accomplishment and victory? If you trust in Christ as Savior and Lord, you can approach death with the confidence, assurance, and excitement that Paul had.

Reflection question: What is your attitude toward death?

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“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7–8 NLT)

While reading the newspaper one morning, Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and engineer, was shocked to find his name listed in the obituary column. It was a mistake, of course, but there it was. Nobel was dismayed to see that he was remembered primarily as the man who invented dynamite. At that point in history, dynamite was being used to great and devastating effect in warfare. Nobel was distressed to think that he would be known for creating an instrument of death and destruction.

He was so distressed, in fact, that he decided to change the course of his life as a result of reading this mistaken obituary. He decided to commit himself to world peace. He established the Nobel Peace Prize. Today, most people who know the name Alfred Nobel associate him with that prize. Many know nothing about his invention of dynamite. That’s because Alfred Nobel had the chance to change the course of his life.

What if you had the unsettling opportunity to read your own obituary? What do you think you’d be remembered for? What if you could write your own obituary? What would you like to be remembered for? It’s not too late to change the course of your life if you want to.

In 2 Timothy 4:7–8, the apostle Paul offers an obituary of sorts for himself. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing” (NLT).

Keep in mind that Paul transformed the world that he lived in. He was used mightily by God to establish churches throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. He left countless converts in his wake. He mentored young Christian leaders. He fearlessly proclaimed the gospel to philosophers, Pharisees, rulers, soldiers, sorcerers, slaves, and possibly even Caesar himself.

In the end, though, he saw himself as a wrestler, someone who fought spiritual battles with all his might; a runner, someone who finished the race despite pain and exhaustion; and a soldier, someone who guarded the truth of the gospel with his life.

If your life were to end today, would you be able to say that you’ve fought the good fight, finished the race, and guarded the faith in the way that you live? If so, then Paul’s reward—“the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return” (NLT)—will be yours as well.

Reflection question: What would you like your obituary to read?

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