Needin' to Talk

2 Timothy 4-Part 6
Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. 2 Timothy 4:9 KJV

Make every effort to come to me soon. NAS

Timothy, please come as soon as you can. NLT


LET IT GLOW

There have been times in my life that I wished I could phone my daughter and say, "Come on over for tea, I'm needin' to talk." But she lives hundreds of miles away from me, so it would not happen even if she wanted to. I'm sure she would if she could. I miss that. I miss talking to her. Hey, it's been three weeks now since we have talked on the phone. I'm ashamed to admit that I've let my busy schedule interfere. Why have I allowed this to happen? So what's holding me back? Nothing. I'm going to call and talk to my sweet girl today. (I would now, but she likes to sleep in on Saturdays.) As I read this verse, I could sense Paul's needin' to talk, too.

You know, Paul has been in this cold, dark dungeon for a while. It sounds like he is suffering from loneliness. He uses the word diligence. Thayer's Lexicon says diligence means to hasten, make haste. 
Twice in this chapter, Paul uses the plea for Timothy to speedily come visit him soon. Verse 21 will have more detail about Timothy's coming before winter and what Paul requested him to bring.

Obviously, Paul didn't know how much longer he'd live. Once his trial came, he'd only have a couple of days before he was executed, beheaded. Probably he'd be in maximum security highly guarded.

"Hurry up and get here!" is what Paul would have said today. Paul must have been lonely, even though Luke was with him.
How diligent am I to go when a friend, brother or sister needs encouragement and a listening ear?
Am I diligent to talk to Jesus?
Am I diligent in my serving the Lord Jesus? Do I quickly drop everything, change my plans, and go when the Spirit says to go? That's one area I have to work on.
How about you? Is there someone you need to talk to today? Have you talked to Jesus yet today?


LET IT GROW

Come shortly. There were 2 pages describing that word come  my Lexicon. I can't read Greek, so I don't know which one Paul used in verse 9. The best I can tell, come signifies "to walk, take steps." That makes sense. When someone wants us to come to them, we have to walk, step, or ride something in order to get there. I'm glad you are walking with me through the Scriptures, dear friend. It's lonely being alone.

Since the end of Paul's life was coming shortly, he wanted to see his special friends. In the rest of the chapter, Paul mentions 17 friends, some faithful and others unfaithful to the Lord. He had five faithful friends at the end. We'll talk about these people next time.

My concordance has 8 pages showing the scriptures where the word come is found in the Bible. That's a lot of coming. I happened to think of Matthew 11:28-30 when Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 

Am I walking to Jesus, with Jesus, for Jesus? Do I come unto Him when He says come? Do I come to Him whenever I'm burdened and the load is too heavy for me to carry? A yoke connected a pair of oxen so they both carried the load. Jesus will carry my load if I will let Him. Thank You Lord. Jesus will give me rest if I'll only come to Him, too.

Paul wanted Timothy to come shortly, quickly. We don't know if he actually made it in time before Paul was killed. I like to think so. Paul ministered to so many. He deserved to be ministered to, don't you think?


LET IT GO

Diligently come to Jesus on a daily basis.

Come to Jesus with my needs.

Obey when and where He tells me to come.