Walking Together

Have you ever noticed in the New Testament that Paul never seemed to be alone?

In 1 Cor 1:1 Paul greets the Corinthian church with “our brother Sosthenes.” In 2 Cor 1 Paul greets the church with Timothy. In 1 Cor 16:19 Paul sends greetings from Aquila and Priscilla. In Ephesians 6:21 Paul sends Tychicus to the Ephesian church. In Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy are together. In Colossians 1:1 again Paul and Timothy are together. At this point you probably get the point Paul always had people around him. He experienced this himself. In Acts 9:27 Barnabas goes to Paul and brings him to the Apostles because the believers in Jerusalem were still scared of Saul for his former threats and actions. Barnabas took Paul under his wing and vouched for his credibility. In Acts 11:25 Barnabas sought out Saul and took him to Antioch with him. In Acts 11:30 Barnabas and Saul are sent by the elders of Antioch to deliver money to believers in Judea who were in hardship. In Acts 13 Paul begins to become the primary figure in the story. What we see is that Barnabas took Saul under his wing and encourage him and help him in the faith. Then Paul began the same process with others.

So, what does this have to do with us? Who is your Barnabas? Who is your encourager, you’re mentor, your confidant? There will always be more to learn. Let me encourage you not be focused on age. We can all learn from others regardless of age. We need people in our life that have a larger perspective than we do and that will be honest with us. We also need to be like Paul was to Timothy, an encourager. We need to have those we are helping. It is easy shake our head at the generation behind us, but they need us, and we need them. If I can help those just starting on the road avoid some potholes that I have hit, then I will have done my job. This entire process takes humility. One of the struggles with this is that Mentors can have inflated egos and those being mentored can have an unteachable spirit. Humility is the answer to both of these problems.

So, who is walking with you and who are you walking with? We need both in our lives.