Friday, March 20, 2009

Stick Your Neck Out

Commit Yourself to Someone!

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
—2 Timothy 2:2

Can you think of an occasion when you were hurt by someone so badly that you were tempted to think, That's it! I'll never give my heart to anyone like that ever again! It could have been a relative, friend, employee or even a church pastor, or brother or sister in Christ. And you think, This hurts too much to go through this a second time. I have had all the abuse I can take, and I will never put my neck back on the chopping block again!

I think everyone has been through heart-wrenching experiences of betrayal, disloyalty, deception, and unfaithfulness in their relationships with others. Sometimes people put on one face in front of you but show a very different side when they are out of your presence. If you are religious, you might even say they are double minded. Maybe it was a close friend you thought would be faithful to you forever; but then that person walked out on you, stabbing you in the back as he exited! Or perhaps you had a trusted friend whom you confided in, but they violated your trust by repeating all the private things you had shared with him/her.

There is no doubt about it — it hurts when you find out that certain people in your life have been unfaithful, especially if they were people who you sincerely believed would be loyal to the end. These feelings of hurt must be exactly what Timothy felt as he was serving as senior pastor of the church in Ephesus. After investing his life into his group of leaders for three years — spending time with them, loving them, caring for them, teaching them, forgiving them, and literally pouring his whole heart and soul into them, as pastors are required to do — Timothy correctly expected a return on his investment. In other words, he expected those leaders to stay with him forever!

The return Timothy anticipated from his leaders was commitment and faithfulness. For those same men to deny him their loyalty after all he had poured into them was a flagrant violation of relationship, yet that is precisely what they did. The majority of those leaders walked out of the church and deserted Timothy.

Many of those who left the church of Ephesus were the leaders Timothy had trained and poured his life into. Timothy thought he could count on these leaders to serve at his side in both good and hard times. But now hard times had come, and the ones he had assumed he could trust walked out and abandoned him. Yea, I can relate to that.

Yea, Timothy like ourselves is human. Paul tells him in so many words to get over it. Yes, get over it. Dig into what you know God has for you and do it again.

I can think of times past when I thought Forget it! I've already been through this pain once, and I don't like the idea of going through it again.

But when you have a large undertaking ahead, you know it's not possible to do the job alone. Therefore, if a person has been hurt, he eventually has to get over it, choose new leaders and friends, new employees, and start over again.

So whether you are building a house, investing in people's lives, extending yourself in the workplace we have to carry on. When we commit ourselves to a task, we also commit ourselves to the men and women who walk along side of us. Our relationships with people need to be open and true. We should consider our commitment to the Lord and do what the Lord calls us to do.

Just as Timothy was required to push aside his hurt and pain and to make himself vulnerable to a new group of leaders, we are called to do the same.

To Love God and love God's people, we are called to invest, trust and love again. Because of Timothy's past experience with leaders who had defected, this order from Paul may have been one of the scariest thoughts the younger minister had ever had. The task may be placed in front of you as well. Will you take the challenge?

You might be asking Isn't this taking things one step too far? Does God really expect me to stick out my neck all over again after I've been hurt? But that is exactly what Paul was telling him to do — and it's what you must do as well! Stick out your neck and your heart, and try again!

Your future depends on how well we are able to connect and work with other people. Do not let the pain from past experiences paralyze you today. Put the past away; decide to quit focusing on how others have failed you; and begin to search for a new group of people or friends so you can start over again. Do not give satan victory over you — paralyzing and immobilizing you, effectively preventing you and your gifts from ever being fully realized. Don't give satan the pleasure of that victory!

It is time for you to grab hold of the power of God and emerge from your place of hiding! It may be true that a person or a group of people hurt you in the past, but there are friends out there who are just waiting for you. They are the ones who will be faithful and steadfast all the way to the end. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and direct you to them. Once you connect with them, you will be so thankful you didn't hide from relationships for the rest of your life and took the bold step to start all over again!

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