What Does This Text Mean?

We have to ask very good questions about what does this text mean. What was Paul saying to Timothy? And what did he mean by that? Then and only then, after we have a pretty good grasp of what does it say and what does it mean, the observation and the interpretation, can we move to the final step of application. Sometimes the application is believe it. Just believe that this is true. Sometimes it is imitate it, do something similar.