Friends Are So Important, 2 Timothy 4:9-12

Friends Are So Important

2 Timothy 4:9&11 Do your best to come to me quickly... Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is so helpful to me in my ministry.

It appears that Paul was nearing the time of his death. He mentions in verse 6 that the time has come for my departure. As Paul ends this letter to Timothy, his son in the Lord, you sense a content yet somber tone. In these verses, he does what is natural in somber occasions; he reached out to his closest friends. Pity the person who has no one to pick them up when they are down.

It appeared Paul had one person left to accompany him during his time of arrest in the dungeon. His name was Luke, the writer of Luke and Acts. So, in his second letter to Timothy, he finishes it with a call for Timothy to come see him and to bring along Mark. Paul was not alone just because some deserted him, it was also because he had sent others out to minister to the churches he had started in Asia Minor. Yet, the sense here is that Paul, in his time of need, missed Timothy and Mark and wanted to see them before he died. Apparently, it wasn't long after this that Paul was beheaded by order of Emperor Nero (common belief).

K and A, do you have a close spiritual friend? I hope so. They are so important. Your spouse should be a close spiritual friend, but I encourage you to seek another friend(s) as well. They must be spiritually sound, one knowing and following the basics truths of the Word while desiring an ever deeper relationship with Christ. Together, you will keep strong in the faith, and, in your hardest trials, you will lift and support each other. It is so important to have spiritually strong friends whom you can turn to in times of stress and distress. I encourage you to form that friendship.

~Dad

Song,
  Deeper, Deeper
  Deeper, Deeper (piano version)