From a spiritual perspective, Paul’s reference to winter is not just a reference to the season of the year, but it’s a reference to a spiritual condition. He’s not just facing a physical winter; he’s facing a winter in his spiritual life. And he wanted to be prepared to deal with the winter that was coming in his life.
Winter is primarily characterized by one thing—cold. Cold is simply the absence of heat; a lacking of warmth. In Rome, winters were extremely cold. There was no insulation to effectively deal with the cold. Most people kept their fireplaces burning to escape the cold. But Paul did not have that luxury. He was kept in a dungeon beneath the streets of the city; he was confined to a space about 6 feet long and 6 feet wide. The walls were cold and damp, and Paul had nothing to keep his body warm.
But more than the effects of physical cold, Paul also had to deal with the condition of a spiritual coldness toward him; Paul has to deal with the being deserted by those that he had once trusted.
“From where did this coldness come?” Paul says that Demas deserted him because he loved this world more than he loved the Lord. And we become cold when we place self ahead of Jesus. Living for self is a dangerous thing. It’s a sign of arrogance. It leads to sin and lethargy.
Paul was facing spiritual winter. The hearts of his friends had grown cold toward him and toward the things of God, and this had caused a coldness to approach his spirit. But he knew how to deal with the winter that was coming. He tells Timothy, “When you come to me...don’t forget the parchments. Bring them with you when you come and I know that I’ll be ready for winter.”
The Word will cover us in the midst of our spiritual winter. The Psalmist wrote, “God is our refuge and our strength; He is a present help in the time of trouble.” When the problems of this life grow too big for us, the Word of God is a place of safety for us.
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