Read: Acts 16:1-5
I’ll be the first to admit that I know very little about investing. Scratch that, I know literally next to nothing about investment. I have a pretty good idea of what a stock is. I know enough to understand that the stock market rising or falling is pretty significant to our economy. Other than that, I don’t know the difference between the Dow Jones and Nasdaq. I have no clue what a portfolio is (unless we’re talking about Trapper Keepers, naturally). If I’m being totally honest about my lack of knowledge, I even had to Google “finance terms” in order to have some words to put in this paragraph (not even kidding).
Still, in today’s high-tech world, it wouldn’t be too hard for me to find out a little bit more about investing. I could spend a couple more hours online and at least get a working definition of some more financial terms. Sites like E*Trade and Ameritrade promise to guide me through the process of buying and selling stock (for a nominal fee, of course). It goes without saying that Wikipedia probably has some sort of moderately accurate information on investing. I’m sure that if I invested a few hours of my time (see what I did there?), I could find out a whole lot more about investing my money and what that could do for me.
Most of us know we should invest more in people. We know what the Bible has to say about pouring our lives into others. On some level, I think we all know that investing in people is the best investment—the most eternal investment—we could ever make. You may even have a good idea of some people you need to invest more in. Chances are that you have people on your heart and mind everyday. By and large, our problem isn’t that we don’t know why we should invest or who we should make an investment in. Our problem is that we don’t know how to do it! We’re not exactly sure what it looks like to actually invest ourselves into another person.
I mean, how do you invest in someone? What does that look like? How does it even work? Well, the Bible gives us a few examples of what investing in another person looks like on a practical level. The Old Testament, for example, tells us about Elijah’s mentoring relationship with Elisha. In the New Testament, we see how Jesus prepared the Twelve for the mission they would eventually undertake. Yet, of all the “investing” relationships found in Scripture, I think the greatest has to be the relationship between the apostle Paul and his young protégé Timothy.
When they first met in Acts 16, Timothy was a young man, perhaps no older than 12 or 13. What he lacked in age, however, Timothy made up for in maturity. Even those in surrounding towns spoke well of his faith. Upon meeting this exceptional young man, Paul immediately saw someone he could invest in. Timothy’s father wasn’t a believer. He had no faith background whatsoever. So, Paul decided to mentor Timothy. The rest of the book of Acts (as well as some of the later Pauline epistles) shows us exactly how Paul invested in this young man’s life and ministry. How did Paul do that? A couple of ideas:
- Share Your Life: Paul didn’t mentor Timothy from a distance. He didn’t leave Timothy in Lystra. Instead, Paul took him along for the ride. He made Timothy a part of his work. For a time, Timothy went wherever Paul did. He saw how Paul lived. He saw how he worked. He even saw how the apostle prayed. If we want to invest in those around us, we have to be willing to do life alongside them. There’s no such thing as a long-distance relationship. In order to invest in the lives of others, we have to be willing to let them see how we live. They have to be a part of how we work, how we play and how we practice our faith. If we want to invest in people, we have to give them access to our lives.
- Pursue Deeper Relationships: One of the things that strikes me about Paul and Timothy’s relationship is how deeply they cared for one another. Multiple times throughout the his letters, Paul refers to Timothy as his “son in the faith.” Paul didn’t view Timothy as an outsider. Neither did he view this young man as simply a student. Paul treated Timothy like a member of his family. Investing in people will require us to do much the same. We’ll have to take our relationships deeper. We’ll have to treat everyone like family (or maybe even better than family). Investing in others requires us to lower our barriers and pursue rich, authentic relationships.
- Encourage Them: Paul encouraged Timothy nearly every step of the way. The letters of I and II Timothy were written specifically to guide and encourage Timothy in his ministry. By writing these letters, Paul gave his young mentee a very tangible and practical sign of his love and concern. Likewise, we can invest in people by sending them notes, gifts and other tangible expressions of our love. These reminders, little acts of encouragement, will help them to remember that we’re on their side and want to see God’s best for their life.
Paul poured himself into Timothy, investing his life in the life of this young man. Given his example, it’s time we all learned a little bit more about investing.
Questions to Consider:
Which of those investments is easiest for you? Which is hardest? Why?
Read I Timothy 1:1-2. How invested was Paul in Timothy’s life?