Paul was indeed a changed man.  His talents and education were now going to be in print, not only for Timothy but for you and me as well.  He writes so clearly.  He explains the message of Christ in a way that even those who could not read, who had no education, could understand.  Can you imagine their reactions as Timothy read the letter to them.

I love to get letters.  But people don't write them anymore.  I heard that they are going to quit teaching Palmer Penmanship!!  It's an E-mail, or a text, or a tweet.  When I go to the mail box and see something addressed in hand writing, I get excited.  I have saved letters from my mother and father, my grandmother and my husband (Especially while he was in Viet Nam).  I go back and read them over and over again.  And although many of the people who wrote those letters are gone, I still love to read the letters they wrote to me.

Thankfully, Paul didn't E-mail, text or tweet.  He wrote long, explanatory letters that have been read over and over again through the ages.  And even after two-thousand years, they are as easy to read and understand as when he wrote them.  God saw that they were saved, so that we could read them two thousand years later.

I Tim. 1:15 "This  is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."

Christ came to save the sinful.  You and I.  And Paul put himself in the same boat as we are.  We all need Jesus to save us from ourselves.  From our sinful desires.  When Christ taught us to pray, he said: "...lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…"  And that is exactly what Jesus does.  He enters our hearts, changes our lives, and gives us the strength we need to resist our own nature.  We become children of God.