Spreading Your Deposit Around

"The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2)

Having discovered in our previous time together what a wonderful blessing the truth of God's Word is to us, beloved, and how important it is for us to protect that wondrous "treasure" within our hearts, we turn now to consider a need that is beyond that of merely guarding what God has entrusted to us.

The Apostle Paul went on within this same portion of his letter to Timothy to exhort him to "entrust" the treasure of God's Word to others. The word "entrust" in the original language means to "put near" in the sense of committing something to someone as a sacred trust. Very simply, we are to take the "treasure" of God's Word and invest it in the lives of other people! We are to pass it on as we have so wondrously received it ourselves. The one common mistake that we too often make as Christians, beloved, is that we become "repositories" of truth, storing it away in our thoughts and memories. With our notes and our meditations we become libraries of divine truth.

But Paul here tells us that we are not merely to "archive" God's truth for use in our own lives. We are to deposit that truth in the lives of others. We are to become channels through which can flow the precious principles of daily living that are to energize our living as followers of Christ. In fact, the apostle told the saints in Ephesus that the literal growth of the body of Christ depends upon "what every joint supplies" (4:16).

One very important qualification is added to Paul's instructions, beloved. We are to seek out "faithful" saints with whom to place this sacred deposit of God's truth. The word "faithful" means those who have shown themselves to be reliable and dependable in living for Jesus Christ and His glory. I believe that what the apostle is talking about here is nothing less than a determined and concentrated effort on our part to be "disciplers" of new believers. We cannot be content to merely see others make a profession of faith but must do all that we can to train them in the truths of Christian living. We must not only, then, protect our own deposit but must pass that deposit to others who, as Paul goes on to say, may themselves "teach others also." It is the only way to insure the growth of believers in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are God's chosen "planters," the agents of His truth being invested in the lives of others. So pass it on, beloved, pass it on! The next generation is waiting!

Ron