Jump Start # 848

1 Timothy 4:15 “Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.”

Our passage today comes from Paul’s words to young Timothy, the preacher. Young preachers need help. They need to learn. They must grow. Congregations must be patient with them.  These words do not just fit a young preacher. They fit old preachers. They actually are for all of us. I can’t think of any Christian that could be excluded from these wonderful words.

Three statements make up this verse. Let’s look at them in reverse order:

1. So that your progress will be evident to all. Progress. Growth. Movement. Future. There is a ride at Disney that takes you on a journey from early days of household technology to the wave of the future. The characters remain the same, even the dog is the same, but the appliances, TV’s, phones become more advanced with each scene. It’s progress we are told.  Spiritually we ought to be progressing. We ought to be moving. We ought to be getting closer to God, more Christ-like in our thinking, and deeper in our understanding. Why does it matter that our progress is evident to all? Two reasons.

First, if it is not evident, then I may not be progressing. I remember the first time, as a kid, our family drove to the Rockies. At first, the mountains seemed small, way off in the distance. As we drove closer and closer, it seemed that the mountains were growing. When we finally got there, they filled the sky. Evident.  As a person is growing in character, knowledge, faith, their progress will grow and others will see it. If no one can see any progress, it is possible that no progress is taking place.

Second, evident progress becomes useful. Who do you want standing in the pulpit on Sunday? Someone whose progress is evident. Who do you want to go to if you have a question? Someone whose progress is evident. When progress is evident, you will use those spiritual tools and knowledge to help others. The opposite of progress is stagnate. Stale. Stuck. Find those gems of truth and insights and observations that are in Scriptures. Dig them out. Share them. A growing Christian is exciting to watch. They are eager, busy and interested. They are busting with questions. They are full of energy. They have ideas. They are thinking, using and benefiting spiritually. Their progress is evident.

Now, we must ask, can that be said of you? Is your progress evident? Do others see it? Do they see it in your home? Do they see it at work? Do they see it at the church building? Same ole’ same ole’ are not the words of Paul to Timothy. Progress spiritually.

Christians who stumble, fail and have trouble are those who stopped progressing. They turned their engine off. They came to a stand still. Others things took over. Sports, wealth building, grandkids, TV, Facebook have filled their time and hearts. They have flat-lined with God. Have you ever eaten anything stale? Not too tasty is it? God is interested in your progress. Peter ended his epistle with, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Grow. Movement. Progress.

• Progress in attitude. Less thinking of self and more thinking of Christ. Less “woe is me,” and more, “Here am I, send me.” More forgiving and less demanding. More hope and less gloom. More peace and less war. More positive and less negative. More joy and less pouting.

• Progress in knowledge. Moving off the milk of the word and onto the meat of the word. Deep thinking. Lowering the nets spiritually. Looking at words. Looking at the settings. Looking at the how comes and the whys? Asking. Probing. Researching. Digging. Learning. Figuring things out. Taking that knowledge and using it. Become a person of the word.

• Progress in behavior. More like Christ and less like the world. More sensitive to things that are wrong. More compassion for others. Becoming more generous. Old man, old ways, old thinking,  old habits gone and buried. No more. The expression, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” doesn’t fit in the thinking of a person who is progressing. Holy, righteous and godly become who you are. Prayer is as natural as breathing. You find yourself praying all the time and about everything and everyone. You pray for strangers. You pray for friends. Kindness smoothes those hard and rough edges of your character.

• Progress in hope. You think about Heaven more. You long for Heaven. You live as if one foot is already there. Your ambition, drive and aim are Heaven. Years ago, someone was trying to get me to be a salesman. He had me write down five things that I wanted. I wrote the word “Heaven” five times on a piece of paper. He looked at that and said, “No, you wrote the wrong things. I meant a boat, a vacation house, travels overseas…” His hope and my hope were not in the same galaxy. What is it that you want? The man who is progressing spiritually wants Heaven.

Next time, we will look at the next expression from this verse.

Progress…evident to all…You don’t have to tell anyone, they can see it! That’s what Paul wanted. That’s what God wanted. Is it what you want?

Roger