It was two weeks ago that we spent time looking at Paul and his love for the lost. That article ended with a long list that showed his heart when he established the church in Thessalonica. The last paragraph indicated we would write more later. Paul’s life imitated the life of Jesus, and Paul encouraged others to do likewise (1 Cor. 11:1).
Have you ever noticed how much love and devotion is shown by a mother as she tends to an infant. Paul did. He used this picture to encourage the church he established to have the right attitude. “We were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children” (1 Thess. 2:7). We put on the whole armor of God, and we are armed with the sword of the spirit which defeats others. However, that sword is not for decapitation of others who are wrapped up in false teaching. This sword is designed to be used for a heart transplant. As you teach others and seek to bring them to Christ hear these words of Paul and be gentle in dealing with the hearts of those you teach.
Timothy was with Paul when the church was being established in the city of Macedonia. He, Paul and Silas were there to answer the Macedonian call. He was so young and unskilled, but what an example Paul was in the way he taught. How important was it to be gentle in teaching others? Hear these words written years later to Timothy when he was much older. “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth…” (2 Tim. 2:23-25). Read those verses again, meditate upon them as you are studying with the lost—not quarrel, be gentle, patient, humility. Change your heart before you seek to change the heart of those who are lost.
Paul uses another example showing how we should teach the lost. “You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged everyone of you, as a father does his own children, that you would wall worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom” (1 Thess. 2:10-12). Read these words again and meditate on them—devout, just, blamelessly, exhorted, comforted and charged you. The figure is of an older child, and the emphasis is on a father having a serious talk with his son. It is serious, not because of a glaring mistake the son has made, but a time when the future of the son matters. The future of the lost matters! Think about this. Pray about yourself, and it will change how you deal with the lost.