Triangles

Funny how people say things come in threes. I'm in 2 Timothy, enjoying Paul's encouragement of the guy until I get to verse 8. Paul wants Timothy to join him in suffering.

Hmm, the encouragement is starting to run a bit thin.

Ah, but its okay, it is to be done in the power of God...

But its a bit unclear. Is the power of God to help us once we are suffering, or is it actually leading to the suffering? You see the whole thing is connected in v9 with our salvation, and that salvation is 'by His purpose and grace', not just an accident.

The salvation and the purpose seem tightly connected, but so does the suffering.

So it seems that there is some kind of salvation/purpose/suffering triangle going on here - the three come together.

Want to take mission seriously? Better get to grips with all three aspects.