Photo by kaybee07

By Melanie Mar Chow

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  –2 Timothy 4:1-2

Living in LA this winter with its unseasonably warm temperatures has truly reminded me what it means to be “out of season.” However, amidst it all, and without lacking sympathy for the rest of the US (more cold and snow than they know what to do with), I offer this perspective.

What did Paul mean by saying to the people “in season and out of season”?  Regardless of physical time, I think Paul is telling Timothy to be a minister both publicly and privately.  He affirms how all aspects of Timothy’s life should be lived according to God’s word.

In the unseasonable warmth we Californians have been receiving, there have been interesting things happening in my garden.  For the second time since the New Year, I have had to weed a certain walkway behind our garage.  No one knows this walkway is there — at least, not until the weeds grow to the height of a 6-ft fence — and if I wanted to, I could just leave it to grow weeds with abandon.   But God knows it is there, and so do I.  This year, when the weeds grew to 6 inches, I decided to clear it out in 80+ degree heat.  It takes about a good hour to weed it by hand, because of its proximity to a brick path.  Grateful for the recent rains, the soil is still soft and if I work quickly and grab by bunches, it is easy to remove.  However, if a large dandelion has taken root, the bricks need to be removed, which takes more time.  I could shortcut there and just break off the weed and not get the root, but then monster weeds would grow next time.

In the same way, as ministers of God’s word, it is a well-known fact that if the word lays dormant in our lives and we don’t preach it, live it, and know it to be our operative life guide, monstrous things can happen.  We too can stray from living God’s ways.  Bad attitudes, instead of the attitudes of Christ, come out.  If I am not ready out of season, I am then unable to do God’s work of rebuking, reproving, exhorting with “great patience and instruction,” as Paul exhorts us to do.

Being extroverted, I love being with people.  But without God’s word shaping and influencing my heart, the application of His word in times of rebuking, reproving and exhorting can be like the quick run through my garden of tearing out weeds.  It can leave someone frustrated and angry, because my words were not patient nor instructive.  It is important to take a step back and do the work to understand and make the situation a “God moment.”

The work of removing the weed, roots and all, does not happen without great patience.  Sometimes the bricks need to be removed because the weed root is bent under, or the weed is actually a stray shoot from the tree of my neighbor and I have to dig deeper to expose the bigger root that the shoot comes off from.

Paul reminds us here that applying the word of God to remedy a situation needs great patience so that corrective instruction can be made.  Similarly, in relationships, my words/thoughts can be cutting and harmful rather than wise and intentional to maintain a relationship. If, on a personal level, we aren’t ready and react too quickly, my credibility as a minister is on the line as well.  Taking the time to realign and be in God’s perspective takes preparation and readiness.

This year, my daughter is the back-up forward/center for her basketball team.  She made varsity in her sophomore year and for almost 1-1/2 seasons, she spent lots of time on the bench. Patiently, I waited and watched.  Out of nowhere this year, the coach has been asking her to come in when the center gets in foul trouble. When that happens, my daughter goes in. As she has been to almost every practice and every game, she is ready to come in to play her role when needed.  Her readied presence keeps the defense up and provide assists to others.  She actually played more in the post-season as they went to the CIF brackets, out of season.

In life, the important thing is to be ready at any given notice to respond to the God’s call.  How have you been “readying” yourself in this way?

Rev. Melanie Mar Chow serves God through Asian American Christian Fellowship, the campus ministry division of the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society (JEMS). She has been an ordained American Baptist minister since 2004. A Pacific Northwest native, she currently lives with her husband and daughter in Southern California.