καὶ ἃ ἤκουσας παρ’ ἐμοῦ διὰ πολλῶν μαρτύρων, ταῦτα παράθου πιστοῖς ἀνθρώποις, οἵτινες ἱκανοὶ ἔσονται καὶ ἑτέρους διδάξαι.
and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
2 Tim 2:2 GNT and ESV
Budgeting…
We hate it.
It’s discilpline.
It’s no fun.
It is refraining and removing the fun and freedom that we want.
Granted, there are many who like this sort of thing.
I was speaking to those who dislike this discipline.
As a father, I was listening to an exposition on this text this morning, and the L-rd had specifically said something to me during the sermon, while the pastor was explaining the Greek word used for “entrust”.
επιτίθημι seems to refer to this dynamic of despositing. Hearing that word made me think of a safe, a bank safe. Paul told Timothy to treat the teachings Paul was describing as something to “place beside” or to “place with” others who were trustworthy.
And I heard the phrase “emotional desposits”
And I saw the things that we do and we build up, different mindsets and different sets of decisions that, when consistently made, built up or piled up a large pile of something that creates momentum and makes gtravel easier.
And then I heard Him imply with His eye…
“For better or worse”
An addict has built up a pile of deposits that he has accrued emotionally in an area. Porn, alcohol, drugs, you name it.
A farmer provides to his soil seed that came from a previous deposit. Plants, Monsanto and their blood crops aside, yield seed that will reproduce themselves after their own kind and will in turn each seed produce multiplied dozens of other like precious seed that will each produce plants.
A husband will add deposits emotional or spiritual or physical or pinancial or sexual into a bank account.
We can deposit many different types of things with others.
Are we depositing the sorts of things from which we will eventually want to reap and harvest?
Intentional and emotional and relational and spiritual deposits, gang.
“These things entrust…”
Be not deceived. G-d is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that also shall he reap.”
Galatians 6:7
It is easier to withdraw from a positive deposit that we have piled up over the long-term, than to try to create something positive at the last minute to stem the tide of a negative deposit that pours over us like a flood, that we have accrued over time.