“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:10-12).
Timothy was a good disciple, a good follower. The first thing that Paul mentions here was the fact that Timothy was a good student; he followed Paul’s teaching. And that is where we tend to stop, thinking that Christian discipleship is a cerebral matter — thinking in line with a doctrinal position or tradition. But notice that Timothy was a good disciple because he was a good imitator. Paul mentions teaching first, but it is first in a long line of other things, all of which were character traits. Timothy followed, meaning he imitated, Paul’s conduct, his aim in life, his faith, his patience, his love, his steadfastness, his persecutions and sufferings. The Lord Jesus says that the student becomes like his teacher, and this is why the character of the teacher is so important (Luke 6:40). This is why the professionalization of the ministry has been such a bad thing. Paul had suffered greatly at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, which were located in the region where Timothy was from. The Lord had delivered Paul from all of them, and so of course Timothy had been a witness of that as well.
Then Paul gives a general principle — all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will draw the ire of the world. They will be persecuted. Now we must be careful here in two ways. First, we must be careful not to commit the fallacy that is called affirming the consequent. All cows have four legs, but having four legs doesn’t make something a cow. All who desire to live in godly way will be persecuted, but not all who are persecuted are godly. Some people are persecuted because they are obnoxious, although they like to think it is because they are holy. But when they make this claim they are making the same mistake as one who would try to get dairy products from a cat. The second mistake is soften what Paul actually claims here. It would be nice if only one faithful Christian in a thousand wound up in trouble, but that is not what Paul says. Even if we take it as a generalization and not a universal claim, it is still hard to reconcile with our deep seated desire for peace, security and comfort.