At A Moment’s Notice
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 2 Timothy 4:2
In Season And Out Of Season – When should you announce the word; on Sunday mornings or Saturday evenings; at crusades or festivals; on designated religious holidays? These occasions are expected by men, but are not what Paul proposes. Paul tells his designated leader to be ready (really “to stand by”) eukairos akairos. If we want to know what Paul has in mind, we’ll have to break down these two words. We’ll discover that God’s timing is always the perfect time to preach the word.
“In season” is the Greek word eukairos. You’ll see the root kairos here. Of course, kairos is the Greek for the opportune moment, the precise time when eternity invades chronology, the lightning strike of the Spirit in the midst of our well-calibrated clockwork. You’ll remember that English has no equivalent for kairos. It is not chronos (clock time) nor aeon (ages or periods of time). It is the time when everything arrives at precisely the right moment. It is God’s engineered time. Do you want to know when to proclaim God’s truth to the world of believers and non-believers? Stand by for the perfect moment. And how will you know when that perfect moment arrives? If it’s the kairos moment, it will arrive when God’s agenda suddenly opens before you. Believe me, it’s not on your day planner. It is eu-kairos; the “good” moment.
Wait! Just in case you thought that you were only required to proclaim God’s word at exactly the “good” moment, Paul adds the Greek word akairos. If eukairos means the “good” time, then akairos means “the not-so-good time.” In other words, stand by to proclaim God’s truth when it seems like exactly the wrong thing to do. Stand by to announce God’s divine agenda when things are going wrong, when there is plenty of resistance, when harm threatens, when it seems too easy, when no one is paying attention, etc. Just as you are to proclaim God’s purpose at precisely the right time, so you are to announce God’s agenda at every “wrong” time. Eukairos akairos covers the spectrum. Preach it, always! There are no vacations from delivering the truth.
God’s leaders are saturated with God’s word. They just can’t think otherwise. Their perspective on things, good or bad, comes from the purposes of the Father. When they open their mouths, no matter what the circumstances, they announce God’s handiwork. They just can’t help it. They serve a sovereign Lord Whose will is the first priority of living. They glorify the Father in all they do and say. They are ready to proclaim His goodness and mercy in every moment.
Are you following that kind of leader? Are you that kind of leader yourself? “Every moment” leadership only happens when the words of God flow in us like life-giving blood.
