Transformed – teen devotion – June 22, 2025
One key truth: The grace of God has been revealed to all in Jesus Christ; all who have seen it serve as witnesses of God’s grace in their various callings.
I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
2 Timothy 1:3-10
It’s What We Do!
It happened innocently enough. He got a little too far ahead of his family on a hike and lost his way when he diverted onto a smaller path. He turned left. When the rest of the family got to the spot, they went to the right. Suddenly he was lost and alone in the middle of a national park, separated from his family. It took all night for his parents and other rescuers to find him. But they did eventually find him. That’s what happens when someone is lost: people drop everything that they are doing and search frantically until they are found.
What a great picture of God’s love for the people of this world. When he looked down and saw that we were spiritually lost, he acted. He saw the hopeless, helpless situation we were in because of our sin. He saw the terror that reigned in us. So he acted to find us and rescue us.
God acted in Timothy’s life to rescue him by sending first his grandmother and then his mother to share with him the faith which God granted to them. He did the same for you. He sent someone into your life to share this message of forgiveness and life with you: maybe a parent or grandparent, maybe a friend or a neighbor. Whoever it was, God’s undivided attention on your spiritual well-being led him to send someone into your life to be a witness of his love and point you to Jesus.
With our undivided attention on Jesus, he now sends us to be witnesses for him to the world. Whatever vocation God has placed you in—brother, sister, parent, friend, neighbor, classmate, co-worker—it doesn’t matter. God is sending you into the lives of other people to share with them God’s love for them in Jesus. God brings people into your life so like Lois and Eunice to Timothy, you can be a witness of God’s love to them. This isn’t just what we do as God’s people! It’s who we are! We are here on this earth to seek those who are lost in the darkness of sin and share with them the light of salvation which God offers in Jesus. Go out and be who God made you to be!
Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, help us to have a love for the lost that leads us to do all we can to seek them out and witness to them about your love in Jesus. Give us the boldness and courage to speak truthfully as your witnesses and to share with others the forgiveness and life that you alone can give. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.