Skip to main content

Paul And Timothy


You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (II Timothy 2:1-2)

           Almost as soon as I got to college, I met someone who thought I was someone else. There were five Karens on my dorm floor, and she mistook me for one who had filled out a survey. Before long, I was a member of a Christian discipleship program and remained with them for three years. There were pros and cons to the group, but they taught me the power of this passage. It’s been 35 years since then, and I wish I could find a program of its type for older adults.
          Paul had learned from God. He had taught Timothy and others. Now Timothy was to teach others, who would teach others. As an ad from a few years put it, “and so on, and so on, and so on….”
          This is the model on which we should be building our lives. We find a good mentor (AKA life coach and finding several to help teach us in different areas of our lives is helpful.) This person needs to have honest access to our lives. The pastor of a church, teaching on Sunday mornings is cannot be close enough to the congregation to be everyone’s mentor. Mentors must hold us accountable for our decisions and acts. They’re there to teach, correct, reprove, and train. And we’re supposed to then find others that we can help, teach, correct, reprove, and train.
          Some folks take the “God and Me Is Enough!” approach, or the “My friends and I are all the Church We Need” approach. The problem is that we tend to be blind either to our faults or our strengths and our friends – if not equally blind – tend to not want to hurt feelings. A mentor has a measure of objectivity and a measure of authority. We need this sort of person in our lives.
          If we followed this pattern taking on two disciples each year, and with them taking on two disciples the following year, by the end of 10 years, there could be 4000 people whose lives are being influenced. We and our world would both be better for it. So in addition to yesterday’s question of “Who are your Onesiphoruses, Phygeluses, and Herogenes?” we have another question. Who is your Paul, and who are your Timothys? If you are lacking either, ask God for them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more