2 Timothy 1:12

This verse was written by Paul, one of the earliest and most influential followers of Jesus, from inside a prison cell. He has been arrested for spreading the Christian faith and is likely awaiting execution. Despite the chains and the public shame of being treated like a criminal, Paul says he is not ashamed. His confidence is not in his circumstances going well — it is in who Jesus is. Notably, he does not say he believes the right things; he says he knows who he has believed, making his faith intensely personal. He is convinced that Jesus is trustworthy enough to be handed everything — including what comes after death.

God, I want the kind of faith Paul had — not the kind that floats in easy times, but the kind that holds in a jail cell. I confess I hold things far too tightly. Today I want to give you what I am most afraid of losing. I trust not in the outcome, but in you. Amen.

There is a difference between saying "I believe in Christianity" and saying "I know him." Paul makes that distinction sharp from inside a jail cell. He is not appealing to a theology textbook or a religious tradition — he is pointing to a person. And usually, suffering produces doubt, not confidence. But Paul has landed somewhere suffering cannot reach: a bedrock trust not in his circumstances working out, but in the character of the one he has handed his life — and his death — to. What have you actually entrusted to God? It is worth being honest. We talk about trusting God with the big things, but many of us quietly keep a white-knuckled grip on our reputations, our futures, our sense of control. Paul had nothing left to hold onto — and he seemed to call that freedom. What would it mean, today, to genuinely hand over the thing you are most afraid of losing? Not as a transaction, hoping God will give it back safely — but as a real act of trust in someone you actually believe is reliable.