It’s Time To Move From Learner To Leader

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. — 1 Timothy 4:6

I love this moment because it's a little pause in the letter where an older man compliments a younger man on his leadership development. Paul tells Timothy that he's proud of him. He congratulates him on two things he has done well to this point in his life. First, he received his spiritual training. Second, he has been practicing it. But then Paul hints at the ever-important third and final step in his training. Do you see it here? It's found in the first clause of this text:

"If you put these things before the brothers..."

Thus Timothy is given his third charge. His charge is to now step into the leadership opportunity before him. But it's conditional based on his action. He must choose to step up, step out, and step into it. And love this moment because Paul is right to push him a little to do this.

Note this. All of us need a period to receive spiritual training. We need time to learn the basics of the truth. Second, we also need time for these lessons to synthesize into consistent actions in our lives. But at some point, we have to move from learner to leader. There comes a time when we need to lead and step into the leadership challenge before us.

I don't have a specific time frame for this whole process, but as a general marker, I would say at some point in the first 1 to 5 years of your spiritual walk, you need to have taken some leadership action steps. Because let's face it, many of us, even when we are young in our faith, were already leaders in some context. Right now, each of us has some context in which we have leadership influence where we can put our biblical and spiritual learnings into action and practice leadership. But too many men put this off for too long. So today, in the spirit of Paul, I want to tell you to step up, step out, and step into it.

So here is your call to action today. I want you to "put before others" some lesson God has been revealing to you that you have applied. Take it to your circle of influence (a friend, a peer, a brother, or a family member) and see if God doesn't take you one more step in your spiritual development — from a learner to a leader.

ASK THIS: What spiritual lesson will you step out with?

DO THIS: Take a step toward spiritual leadership.

PRAY THIS: God, show me the lesson and provide me with opportunity.

PLAY THIS: Give Me Faith.