| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 17 |
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Still, there is danger that shyness may become a covering which shall hide the light of Christian confession. Even so good a man as Timothy seems to have needed the exhortation from St. Paul, “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee.” Timothy was not making the most of his Christian life. He was not using all the power he had. Only a comparatively feeble light was shining out from his life, when there ought to have been burning brightness. St. Paul said this to him, “God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline.” Timothy seems to have been covering his light under a spirit of timidity, shyness, almost cowardliness.
It becomes all of us to look to ourselves to know whether the gift that is in us does not need stirring up like a fire that is smouldering, whether we do not need to get more courage, whether our shyness may not be a serious fault in us, and whether it may not be hindering our usefulness as Christians. We should get the lamp out from under the covering of timid reserve, and set it on the candlestick of sincere and courageous confession.
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