LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 22, 2026

There’s one more thing Paul said that identified his life when he was talking to his pastoral trainee Timothy. He said he had kept the faith. Now that could be interpreted one of two ways. The incorrect way to interpret it is that Paul was responsible to keep himself saved. But that contradicts other verses in Scripture that declare that we are kept by the power of God unto salvation. The correct way to interpret keeping the faith is to understand what the word “kept” means. It means two things. To guard, and to express. Paul is saying that he has kept an eye on how he lives to make sure that his activity agrees with the faith that he has confessed.

How we live life is an expression of what we truly believe. Paul had one belief that superseded all others – His belief in Jesus Christ. He said in Second Timothy 1:12, “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

Paul was convinced that his life was eternally secure in Christ because Jesus is able to guard the gift of salvation that was given to him.

But Paul also knew that we must guard our lives against anything that would conflict with our salvation. He told Timothy, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”

My friends, guard the good deposit that has been entrusted to you. Keep an eye on your faith and make sure it is protected from anything that would make it impure. There are many distractions in the world that can minimize our faith in the saving power of Jesus Christ. Choosing to make any pursuit of our lives more significant to us than the pursuit of our love for Jesus Christ will hinder the expression of our faith in God. We will become weak. We will make Bible reading and prayer optional. We will make church optional. We will make fellowship with other Christians optional. We will choose to pursue what gratifies the flesh in this life over choosing death to the flesh because of the life we have in Christ.

But not only are we to guard the faith from outside influences but we are to express the faith that we have in Christ. We do that by adopting the pattern of the sound words that we have in scripture. We renew our minds so that we are not conformed to the pattern of thinking of this world but instead we act on the belief that we have in Jesus Christ. We choose his moral standards rather than the convenient ones of the world. We choose obedience over self-preservation. And when we are convinced that God is guarding us we will begin guarding what he has given us even if it means suffering.

There are far too many Christians who are keeping their faith locked in a safe place hoping no one discovers it. But faith in Jesus Christ is not a precious gift to hide but to share. We share it by living it out as the expression of our belief that Jesus Christ is supreme and that in Him we are secure. Unfortunately, when we don’t live it out that way we have placed our faith in someone or something other than Christ.

Today renew your desire and your efforts to keep the faith. Guard it from anything that would weaken it. Express it in the way that you live with full confidence that you believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that your faith in Jesus Christ is rightly placed.

Pastor John