Follow the Faith of Our Fathers

When someone we love is approaching death, their last words to us have special significance.  These are their last and final instructions to us, their encouragements and comforts for us, and often the profession of what are the most important things they want us to remember.  Those last words can have a powerful effect on our lives and can serve to sharpen our own focus on the things that are most important.  The apostle Paul is giving what are likely his last words of encouragement and consolation to his son in the Lord, Timothy, and these words are a ringing and powerful profession of faith in Christ.  We will look at this passage in two parts, the faith of our fathers (6-8) and following this faith (1-5).  We begin with the last part because it sets the high bar of a life well-lived in the faith, while earlier verses show what it looks like to follow this faith.