Jump Start # 1486

2 Timothy 4:13 “When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.”

  Our verse today comes from the last few things the apostle Paul wrote in the Bible. He was an old man by this time. He was in Rome awaiting his next trial. He had already been in prison but was granted a short release. He knows this time there is no getting out. “The time of my departure is at hand,” is what was awaiting him. Roman prisons were dark, damp and cold. While awaiting what was to come, Paul asked Timothy to bring him some things. Later in the chapter, he urges Timothy to “come before winter.” When winter sets in, travel was difficult and Timothy wouldn’t be able to journey. Paul’s time was short. He needed these three items.

• Paul wanted his cloak. He was cold. This would bring him some external comfort.

• Paul wanted his books. Paul wanted to read and study, even to the very end. Those of us that are book lovers want to know what those books were. These books would bring him some internal comfort. The nature of Paul leads us to believe that these books were something spiritual. I doubt Paul was wanting novels to kill the time. Were these books Paul had written? Were these books written by the other apostles? No one knows.

The need for books shows us that Paul, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, still needed to feed his soul, grow his faith and be encouraged. Like us, books, good books, help serve that purpose. No book takes the place of the Bible. We can read all kinds of books about the Bible, and read all kinds of thoughts about the Bible, but in the end, we need to open God’s word. What God says and the way in which He says it always is superior to what man thinks or says.

There is a wonderful place for books in our lives. Many today are not opening books anymore. Statistics reveal that high percentages of college grads do not read much after graduation. We’ve become a very visual society. Show me a video has replaced reading something. The child of God knows and understands the great value of reading. Faith is fed by reading the word of God. There are so many wonderful tools that can help us in the journey to learn the Bible more. Books about the Bible make wonderful gifts to give.  Do I have to have these to go to Heaven? No. Can I know God’s word without them? Yes. But the more I know, the more I study, the greater my understanding will be.

One tool that has shaped the American landscape for God’s people for generations is religious magazines. Much of what we have learned about our history has come from these old papers. There was a time when literally dozens of religious papers were being published. It was a mark of most preachers back in the 1800’s to be an editor of his own paper. The powerful ones, such as the Christian Baptist, helped open the eyes of many people and led a movement back to the New Testament pattern for worship and organization. There were many papers that had unique names such as the “Heretic Detector,” or, “The Christian Casket.” With most of those papers, as the editor aged or died, so did the paper. Financial troubles caused many of the papers to cease. Some merged. There is one still being published that is over 150 years old. Word came recently, of the ending of another paper, Biblical Insights. It’s fifteen year run is now wrapping up for good. It was a delightful paper and filled with good teaching tools. It remained true to it’s name, Biblical Insights. I knew all the editors, from the first issue to the last. I had written for it some. I hate to see it close but the times have changed. It’s expensive to publish these days. Folks don’t read papers like they once did. Blogs, such as Jump Starts, have become the way of writing in our times. It’s sad. I thank the Lord for the good that it did. Well done, brothers!

Bring me my books. Great thought.

• Especially bring the parchments. Parchments is what people wrote letters on. It would be the same as bringing the stationary or paper and envelopes. Paul had some writing to do. I expect he wasn’t writing his will as much as he was writing one final time to people to encourage them. Our journey is always a struggle. There are always someone to encourage. There are always questions to be answered. There are always things to further teach people. Paul needed some paper because he had some things to write.

These three items, his cloak, his books and his parchments, show us what Paul was thinking as he approached the end of his time here. He was wanting to fill his mind and his heart and help others to the very end. He wasn’t going to stop until the Lord stopped him. What a tribute to Paul and what an example for us. How many get to a point and they are finished. No more. Already did that in the past. Not Paul. Sure there were people like Timothy and Titus to come on the scene, but Paul wasn’t finished. He wasn’t done until he was done. Some of our older folks need to take this to heart. You may not be able to stand up and teach a whole quarter of classes any more. You may not be able to preach a Sunday sermon anymore, but can you get out some paper and encourage someone? Can you use your experiences and your wisdom to help out a new Christian? Don’t be done until you are done! It’s sad to see all those years of experience going untapped in a congregation. The younger ones’ coming on need to appreciate and spend an afternoon with the older ones. They’d learn a few things if they did. Younger preachers need to spend some time with older preachers. They need to just listen and take in what those voices of the past have to say.

Bring me the cloak, the books and the parchments. Makes a person wonder what they would want in their final days? I sure hope it’s not the TV remote. Bring me the Bible. Bring me the books. Bring me some paper. There are things to be done and we need to be set to do them.

Give these some thoughts.

Roger