Make Your Investment Count-Finding Faithful Men

“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:1-2).

Paul told Timothy, his son in the faith, to entrust what he had heard from him (the gospel) to faithful men who would be able to teach others also. This was Paul’s practice to raise up pastors and gospel workers in the early church. As we discussed earlier, Paul invested in Timothy then Timothy would entrust the gospel to faithful men who would teach others also.

During the last several blogs, we’ve talked about the kind of men we should mentor or disciple if we want to make our investment count. We’ve seen that these men should be new men who have demonstrated faithfulness. Not only that, they should be men who are available and intentional about growing spiritually and following God’s call on their lives. In addition, they should have a desire to learn, they should be teachable. If you and I are to be good stewards of time and resources that the Lord has provided, we must invest in the men with these character qualities.

In today’s post we will discover the final quality we should look for in men we mentor or disciple- a hunger for God.

Hungry for God

Jesus said in the beatitudes:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).

What a promise! Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. You can be assured that when you mentor and disciple men who are hungry and thirsty for the things of God that they will be “all in.” This “heart hunger” is also described in Psalm 63.

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;my flesh faints for you,as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory” (Psalm 63:1-2).

In this text, the Psalmist has a hunger for God that only He can satisfy! He likened his desire for God and His presence in his life, as one who is dying of thirst in a desert region where there is no water. He longs for God and the presence of God!

Several years ago while pastoring a small church, in South Louisiana, I had the privilege of mentoring a young man named Jessie. Only a teenager, Jessie had a real hunger for God and the things of God. He loved to be in God’s presence, to worship, and to study His word. He saw God as his treasure and desired a deep intimate relationship with Him.

I remember stopping by his house one day to speak to him and he wasn’t home. His mother told me that he had taken his Bible and his cassette player and went to a place in the field behind his house to be alone with God.

I walked over to the place where his mother said he would be and found him under a shade tree on a blanket listening to praise music reading his Bible.

The point is this, Jessie had a heart hunger for God. Jesus was his treasure and because he had a hunger and thirst for God he spent time with Him. He loved to be in His presence.

Conclusion

The men you mentor and disciple don’t have to have all of the qualities that we talked about but they should have some of them. Look for men of FAITH!

Faithful
Available
Intentional
Teachable
Hungry