As we go through the Christian life, we very often find it difficult to tell others about Jesus Christ. Christians throughout the ages have had this problem, and it is this problem which caused Paul to write to Timothy.

Paul used his how much more reasoning with Timothy. After all, if God was willing to save us sinners from sin, and not only that but to change us from within, how much more would he enable us to tell others the good news?

This is not to say we won’t undergo suffering for the gospel, but the Spirit within us enables us out of a love for our fellow man to tell others of the salvation from sin available through Jesus Christ.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Rom 1:16

It is even more striking when you think that, unlike today in the West, where the most we might suffer is a little mockery or a slightly damaged ego, compared within the Roman Empire where Timothy would likely be risking imprisonment, possibly even death. Again, Paul uses the much more than argument – Christ had defeated death, so what are we to be afraid of?

This is not to say we are to be foolish in our sharing of the gospel, but that we take every opportunity when we can.

Ultimately, what is this gospel we talk about so much? Is it sins forgiven? Imputed righteousness? Justification? Sanctification? The prospect of heaven? The setting aside of wrath? Propitiation?

All these things, plus a few others,  are merely means to an end. For ultimately, the gospel is that we can know God. Once our sins are dealt with, and we are restored to godliness, there is no longer a barrier between us and our Creator. This reconciliation, bought by the precious blood of God the Son, enables us to know God, to be able to glorify him as we should.

Not only are we able to glorify him, but we can rejoice in him. If we were to receive everything we ever wanted, except for God, we would never be content. For it is in God that we find our joy.

Yet, through what Christ has done, and continues to do, God is revealed to us. Our communion with him is restored. Heaven is to be with God.