Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 9-12
For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. – 1 Corinthians 4:17
When we talk about spiritual leaders who train their successors, you might be saying, “I can barely get my own work done every week. How can I train someone else?”
Let me offer a couple of suggestions. First, involve someone in your ministry, whatever it is. If you teach Sunday school, ask someone to assist in what you’re doing. That gives him or her a chance to observe you in action–and to help.
Second, get involved together in things other than spiritual activities. Throughout the books of First and Second Kings, we see Elijah and Elisha involved in training the young men in the schools of the prophets. But we also see Elijah investing himself in one man, Elisha, who would carry on the ministry when he was gone.
Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, and Paul and Timothy must have enjoyed a tremendous friendship that developed over years of shared experiences. A lot of principles of Christian living are caught rather than taught.
If you feel that your life isn’t good enough to be observed and imitated by others, join the club. No one does. By the grace of God, we can be challenged to a deeper walk with the Lord as we seek to help others. Our lives are honed as we share our victories and defeats and grow together.
Whatever your ministry, let me challenge you to include someone young in it, and you will prepare someone who will keep on serving the Lord in the generation to come.
Prayer
Lord, with Your help, I want to invest the life You’re working in me with others. Amen.
To Ponder
As Jesus spent time with the disciples, they internalized a message that would turn the world upside-down.
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