Motivated to live for God

So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News. 2 Timothy 1:8-10

From the text, the apostle Paul provided Timothy an encouragement to be faithful in living the life God gave him. He reminded him that salvation is a gift from God. It is a free gift that no one receives because they earned it. It was only by believing in Christ by faith that one could receive the gift of salvation. You received the gift of salvation not because of what you can get out of your relationship with God though God wants you to enjoy the blessings, but having a relationship with God entails responsibilities. “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life” (v. 9). You may think this sound like Paul was being too hard on the Christians of his day. It might come that way, but there are too many people approach their faith as something they can either take or leave. That's never the way God wants His relationship with you to look like. As in any other relationship that demands faithfulness, God also looks for faithfulness from His children. The good news is that God knows that His children will find it difficult to live faithfully for Him. It is not by our own strength that you can live for God. The old sinful nature will always be on the way to prevent you to progress in living the life God gave you. God’s solution for this struggle is for you to let the old self die and His new life in you prevail. This is how Paul lived his life. “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). This is God’s provision; live the exchanged life He provided. When you accept God’s provision for new life by trusting Him, you believe that when He was crucified on the cross, you died with Him in your old life. “If we die with him, we will also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11). You can only be made righteous by God's grace. But, in spite of that, there is to be a commitment to doing the right thing. Do not live your life by your own strength but by faith in the Son of God that lives in you.

Blessings.