"But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you."
We don't believe information so much as we believe the source that provided us the information. For example, have you been able to personally verify that Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States? We believe that Honest Abe was the 16th President because someone we trust told us that. Maybe that person was a parent or a teacher. Or maybe we googled it and that's what showed up on the search page. The point is, we trust the source so we accept what we've been told.
In 2 Timothy 3:14, Paul assures Timothy that he can trust the Gospel message because it was presented by trustworthy people. In Timothy's case he learned about the faith from his grandmother, mother, and Paul. Since Timothy trusted these people, he knew that he could trust their message.
Now of course a trustworthy person can be mistaken and hence give out wrong information. We've all received bad advice from good people. On the other hand, it is much less likely for us to believe something when it comes from an untrustworthy person. In this verse, Paul is not telling Timothy to believe everything that a respectable person tells him, instead Paul is reminding Timothy that the message he received stemmed from good sources.
For today's exercise, think about something from the Bible that you believe and that you know many people in our society do not believe. How did you develop this belief? Why do you still believe it? Now the tough question, if you were to share this belief with another person, would they see you as a trustworthy source? What does it mean to you to be a trustworthy Christian?
(New Living Translation; photo credit: Wix media)