Set An Example

No pressure.

The Apostle Paul must have been an interesting fella to work with.

Imagine. Your name’s Timothy, you’ve been hanging around Paul for a few years observing how he does this whole apostolic thing from area to area. You’ve got involved to a degree in some of this work as well. As you did the work, however, you did it under the auspices of this man of God and that was a safety net in itself. You had him to refer back to. That is until he commissioned you to go to one of the places you helped develop – and you’re supposed to go there as his apostolic representative. And you’re supposed to go there and sort the churches out, like you’re Paul.

What’s daunting about that is that you ain’t that advanced in years. In fact you’re given to bouts of anxiety and intimidation. Going in among these folks who might be young in the faith, but won’t necessarily be up for being directed on what to do by a young man like you.

Paul, however, evidently has ample confidence in God for you and sends you out anyway and in among what he instructs you to do, he drops this line of advice.

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

No pressure.

The beauty of this instruction is that it returns Timothy to the point of the teaching, to the purpose of being sent, to how these believers are in that condition in the first place. Timothy, like Paul, is the recipient of the love of Jesus Christ. As such a beneficiary, he also have the Spirit of God living in him enabling him not just to operate in his gifting to fulfil the instructions he’s receiving from Paul, but he has the Spirit to embody and characterise what all those believers should be aspiring for.

It’s no less a daunting task that awaits him, but it’s one that he can accomplish firmly trusting and submitting himself to the God who rescued him. He can do what’s been set for him as he operates from the focus of the character of Christ.

Paul doesn’t just drop that on him, there’s a word of encouragement later on as to a desirable outcome of his commitment to setting the example,

Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

You are obviously not Timothy (even if your name is Timothy). I am not this Timothy either. Some would read it and think it’s something that applies to those who are called to have that degree of responsibility in church settings. Yet as long as we’re responsible for each other as members of the same spiritual family, there is something about these instructions that should apply to us. Especially those of us who have walked with Jesus for a bit.

There’s got to be something in us that gets it in our head that we are to set an example to fellow believers in those crucial areas. Even as we benefit from other believers exemplifying life in these areas:

In speech – are our words ones that build and guide carefully in Christ-like character?

In conduct – will the way we put ourselves across show others the grace and peace of Jesus?

In love – does our behaviour reflect how Jesus served and cared for those around him?

In faith – is the connection with the Father through the Son by the Spirit evident in each aspect of our lives?

In purity – when the underlying motives of our lives are exposed will people just see the desire to please God?

These questions are not ones for musing in the mind for hours. These questions are answered one way or the other every day in every way in which we engage with others and even with ourselves. It will do us the world of good to see a bit of Timothy in our day to day responsibilities to ourselves, our spiritual family, the world looking on and in all these things essentially our relationship with God.

No pressure.

(Photo by Monica Melton on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden