A Few Words Before I GoSample

Paul wants Timothy to follow his example

“This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.” (1 Timothy 1:18-19)

The apostle Paul had spent most of his life as a missionary. God blessed his work, and many came to faith in Jesus Christ. Among these new Christians were some young men that Paul mentored intensively. One of them was Timothy, whom Paul called “my beloved and faithful child in the Lord.” Timothy became a co-worker of Paul who accompanied him on his mission trips and was sent to several churches when Paul himself wasn’t able to visit them.

The New Testament contains two letters from Paul to Timothy. In the second one, Paul writes: “The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6-7). It is Paul’s desire that his “beloved child” will follow the same course in life. He encourages him to “wage the good warfare, holding faith.” Why? Because Paul is convinced that a prize is waiting for everyone who keeps the faith. As he phrases it in Romans 8:18, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Do you also long for others to take you as an example and make the same choices as you did? Why, or why not?