The hardworking farmer should be the first to partake of the crops.
Be strengthened in grace, not as a permission to sloth, but as a command to shake off the flesh's sluggishness. Even the most gifted lose heart midway unless they are constantly aroused and reminded that their strength comes not from themselves but from Christ.
AI summary
Commenting on 2 Timothy 2:1-26
Here Paul encourages Timothy to constancy and perseverance in his work: Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, Ti2 2:1. Observe, Those who have work to do for God must stir up themselves to do it, and strengthen themselves for it. Being strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus may be understood in opposition to the weakness of grace.
Commenting on 2 Timothy 2:1-7
The husbandman that laboureth,.... In manuring his ground, in ploughing, in sowing, in weeding, in reaping, &c. must be first partaker of the fruits; of his labour, before others; and the design may be to observe that the ministers of the word ought first to be partakers of the grace of God, the fruits of the Spirit, and of the Gospel, and rightly and spiritually...