and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV)
Paul was training Timothy, and in doing so, teaching him to teach others. Timothy was called to “entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others”, or to invest in those who would move from mere consumption to a deliverer of the Gospel.
In the church today we only think of the preachers or sunday teachers in the church as the ones who are called teach people. We focus on the supposed “higher calling” of leaders to the exclusion of the “heavenly calling” (Hebrews 3:1) of every believer. Yes, the mantle of training and teaching was here laid upon a leader, Timothy, but there also exists a calling upon the “faithful men” to be trained, and be taught.
There exists then a unified calling, applicable on both sides of leadership; a calling upon the leader to train, and a calling upon the follower to come forth, count the cost, and pay it. Is it time for you to live as a resource for others instead of constantly consuming investments poured into your life? Consider then,
the “land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned” (Hebrews 6:7-8).
Are you guilty of living as parched ground that greedily swallows the life giving rain, but never yields a useful crop for others? Do you continually bear the “thorns and thistles” produced by bondage to your sinful flesh? Start using your God given gifts and talents to be a resource in raising up faithful men and women.
Is it time for you to live as a resource for others instead of constantly consuming the investments poured into your life?
Pastor Mike Says 