Book of Common Prayer
Rekindle the gift!
1 Paul, an apostle of Messiah Jesus by God’s will, according to the promise of life in Messiah Jesus; 2 to Timothy, my dear child. Grace, mercy and peace from God the father and Messiah Jesus our Lord.
3 I serve God with a clear conscience, as my forebears did, and I am grateful to him that I remember you all the time, as I pray for you night and day. 4 I remember how you cried when I left, and I’m longing to see you and be filled with joy. 5 I have in my mind a clear picture of your sincere faith—the faith which first lived in Lois your grandmother and Eunice your mother, and which, I am confident, lives in you as well.
6 That’s why I now want to remind you that God gave you a gift when I laid my hands on you, and that you must bring it back into a blazing fire! 7 After all, the spirit given to us by God isn’t a fearful spirit; it’s a spirit of power, love and prudence.
Don’t be ashamed!
8 So don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as his prisoner. Rather, suffer for the gospel along with us, in accordance with God’s power. 9 God saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. He gave us this grace in Messiah Jesus before all time and ages, 10 but has now made it visible through the appearing of our savior Messiah Jesus, who abolished death and, through the gospel, shone a bright light on life and immortality.
11 I was made a herald, apostle and teacher for this gospel; 12 that’s why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the one I have trusted, and I’m convinced that he has the power to keep safe until that day what I have entrusted to him.
13 Keep a firm hold on the pattern of healthy teaching which you heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Messiah Jesus. 14 You have had something very important entrusted to you, too; make sure you look after it, through the holy spirit who dwells in us.
42 “Think about these little ones who believe in me,” he went on. “If anyone causes one of them to slip up, it would be much better for that person to have a huge millstone put around their neck, and be thrown into the sea.
43 “And if your hand causes you to slip up, cut it off. It’s better for you to go into life maimed than to have two hands and go into Gehenna, into the fire that never goes out.
45 “And if your foot causes you to slip up, cut it off. It’s better for you to go into life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into Gehenna.
47 “And if your eye causes you to slip up, throw it away. It’s better for you to go into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into Gehenna, 48 where
their worm lives on forever
and the fire can never be quenched.
49 “You see, everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is great stuff; but if salt becomes unsalty, how can you make it salty again? You need salt among yourselves. Live at peace with each other.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.