November 20, 2023
Joe Brockinton ’74
Retired
I Timothy 6:20a Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you . . . .
In the Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, Uncle Billy misplaces the money he was supposed to deposit at the bank when he accidentally gives it to old man Potter in a folded newspaper. Potter keeps the money and a distraught Uncle Billy searches everywhere but cannot find it or remember what happened to it. Of course, Potter seizes the opportunity to put the savings and loan out of business and George Bailey into a depressing funk which leads him to wish he had never been born. We all know the story has a happy ending but is there a lesson in it for us?
Paul tells Timothy to guard what has been entrusted to him. Paul and others have poured into Timothy’s life but there are those false teachers and influencers whose heretical doctrines threaten to shipwreck both Timothy and his ministry in Ephesus. This is not a casual comment to “be careful” but a desperate command to guard the truth in his life with all that he has lest he be distracted from the truth. Paul mentored Timothy and reminded him that there are men in Ephesus who are leading believers away from the gospel that Paul proclaimed.
Like Uncle Billy and Timothy, we must guard the deposit which has been given to us through godly mentors and the working of the Holy Spirit. FBI agents who are trained to spot counterfeit bills learn by studying the authentic bills so that they can spot the counterfeit bills when they see them. In the same way, we must study God’s word so that we know truth and can spot heresy when we encounter it. We can only pass on truth to others if we know it.
Are you guarding the gospel deposit that has been entrusted to you?