What did Paul do right?

What did Paul do right? 2 Timothy 4

Hello.

Last night I went to a high school graduation party to honor my next-door neighbor, Olivia, who is a standout young woman in just about every way. But the part I enjoyed the most was a conversation I had with another young woman with whom I had never had the opportunity to talk much. I think she is about 22 years old. She was telling me of some of her educational experiences and her goals—like to pay off her parents’ home in the next five to 10 years, so her father does not have to work so hard! That impressed me. Sarah told me about the relationship she enjoys with her mentor as well, and how she has impacted her.

Mentors are most often those who advise and counsel another, usually because of some area of expertise and modicum of success. But I have been thinking about expanding the notion of a mentor – like, why can’t I think of the apostle Paul as my mentor? Since I obviously cannot meet him for coffee for face-to-face sessions, it will require that I become a student of what he wrote and even what has been written about him, particularly in the book of Acts and elsewhere. ->Studying his life ->deconstructing decisions and choices he made and the reasons for those ->considering his total commitment to God, and his ->relentless determination to tell others about Jesus Christ ->attempting to understand the systematic theology that he constructed and taught, and his ->dogged get-back-up again, no matter how many times he was physically crushed is the stuff of a valuable mentorship.

Since we have just come to the close of his last known writing, the letter we call 2 Timothy, we have much to look back and recall about this devoted follower of Jesus Christ. What did Paul do right? Why would anyone want to be like him, aside from the fact that he was the second to greatest human being who ever walked planet earth?

Let’s think about it:

~Paul was a learner. From the time he was a child, he clearly used his God-given intellect to study, learn and seek to understand the scriptures

~Paul followed his convictions. He was certain that the early believers in Jesus Christ would damage Judaism, (and he was right!) and so he sought to punish them, prosecute them until Jesus stepped into his path.

~Paul lived life with passion, it seems in every way! Once Jesus got his attention on the road to Damascus, (Acts 9), he got the message loud and clear, and then endeavored to follow Jesus all of his days with a gusto unmatched by any other.

~Paul never stopped learning! After his encounter with Jesus, it seems that he went into the desert, to contemplate and learn more about life with the Messiah vs. life under the Law. [Galatians 1.17]

I am going to stop right there, and ask you – what do you think Paul did right? What impresses you about the man Paul? How would you like to be more like him?

Please respond, won’t you?

Christine

PastorWoman.com