Entrusted

“This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. But rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith.” (1 Timothy 1:18-19) 

How is your faith doing? I know, that is a bit of an ambiguous question. The question itself assumes that ‘faith’ can be measured physically. But can it? It seems to be a bit of an oxymoron. Faith isn’t necessarily something you do, but rather something you have, right? Well, yes and no. 

The Scriptures, by-and-large, teach us that ‘faith’ is something we are given (Ephesians 2:8) and something we are to have and possess (Mark 11:22). This means that ‘faith’ is something you either have, or don’t. So, do you have faith? And that comes down to whether you have placed your faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

But that is just the beginning. 

The Scriptures not only call us to be “have faith” but also to “do faith”; or to say it more properly, “to live faithfully.” Many professing Christians would (hopefully) say that they have placed their faith in Jesus—they “have faith” in Christ. And this may be true. However, many Christians do not live like they have faith. I believe the reason for this is because many see “faith” as simply something you have, instead of also something that you do. 

When Paul writes 1 Timothy, he had sent Timothy to Ephesus to deal with false teaching, by correcting the false teachers and reminding the church of the truth. And what he says to Timothy about ‘the faith’ is important for all Christians to understand. I believe that many cannot properly answer the question I began with because they treat ‘faith’ as simply something you have. As Paul begins this letter, however, he reminds Timothy (and all believers) that ‘faith’ isn’t merely something you have, but also something that you do; it is meant to be the way we live. 

In the verses above, Paul speaks of faith as something that must be defended, just as if we are in a war, and something that must be protected, lest it be destroyed like a ship that is out at sea. In other words, the faith that we have is not passive, but active. Our faith in Jesus calls us to respond—to do something. And I believe it all comes down to that word, “entrusted”.  

Paul tells Timothy that he has been entrusted with the faith. And only after he has been entrusted, is Timothy then told to “wage the good warfare” and watch out for being “shipwrecked”. The sad reality is that many professing Christians do not realize that we are in a war—they do not realize that they are in danger of being shipwrecked, because they have not understood that they have been entrusted with their faith. Our faith may be something that we have, but it is not ours to begin with, nor is it meant to simply stay with us; we have been entrusted with it. 

And so, how do we know how our faith is doing? Well, we have to ask ourselves, “What is our faith is doing in and through us?” 

At the end of this letter, Paul says, 

“Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:11b-12) 

Here, Paul isn’t calling Timothy to simply believe in Jesus, but to live for Jesus. The faith he has in Christ, calls Him to respond with his life—to live like he has placed his faith in Christ. This is what he has been entrusted with, and if you are a Christian, then this is true for you too.  

I am often reminded of a picture of a shipwreck. The ship is fully destroyed and partially sunk in the sea. There is a sentence underneath that picture that reads: 

“MISTAKES. Could it be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others?” 

One of the great mistakes that we can make in our lives as Christians is knowing that we are in a battle, that there is danger of being shipwrecked, and then ignoring the warnings, because we have ignored (even if unintentionally) the call of God in the Scriptures. May we freshly hear the words of our King again, “Fight the good fight of the faith.”. In other words, live for the King and the Kingdom. After all, we have been entrusted.