Before you read some thoughts from God’s Word, try to match each of the people below with their last words.

Ready for the answers? Here we go.

1. Alfred Hitchcock – Answer I, “One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes.”
2. Benjamin Franklin – Answer A, “A dying man can do nothing easy.”
3. Elvis Presley – Answer E, “I’m going to the bathroom to read.”
4. Emily Dickinson – Answer F, “I must go in, for the fog is rising.”
5. Ernest Hemingway – Answer B, “Goodnight, my kitten.”
6. Frank Sinatra – Answer G, “I’m losing it.”
7. Harriet Tubman – Answer J, “Swing low, sweet chariot.”
8. Leonardo da Vinci – Answer C, “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.”
9. Steve Jobs – Answer H, “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”
10. Winston Churchill – Answer D, “I’m bored with it all.”

While in prison, the Apostle Paul wrote a final letter to Timothy, his beloved son in the faith.   Most scholars agree that Second Timothy is the last epistle that Paul ever wrote, and as such, it records his last words.

I want to spend a few weeks looking at Second Timothy 2:1-7.  It may seem out of order, but let’s start with verse seven.  Paul wrote, “Think about what I am saying, because the Lord will give you the ability to understand everything.”  He wanted Timothy to do more than just read the words on a page.  Timothy needed to meditate on Paul’s instructions because they were the last words that Paul would ever say to Timothy.

Back in the first verse of the chapter, Paul wrote, “You then, Timothy, my child, be strong in the grace we have in Christ Jesus.”  At the beginning of the year, I wrote an entire series about grace.  Without reiterating everything I said, let me remind you that grace frees us to live confidently for Christ rather than being trapped by our own fear.

Let this post stand as an introduction for the next few weeks.  I plan to write about four metaphors that Paul uses in Second Timothy 2:2-6 to show Timothy how to be strong in his walk with Christ.