Topic(s): Christian Life

Everybody should learn lessons from young people. Paul told his friend, a young preacher named Timothy, to be an “example of the believers…in spirit” (1 Timothy 4:12) so that others could be better Christians because of Timothy’s example. What does it mean to have an exemplary spirit?

In our study of Christ-like young people, we have turned to Samuel, who was an example in Spirit. Samuel’s spirit was a spirit of service. In 1 Samuel 3, he was focused on doing only what God and Eli (the High Priest and Samuel’s mentor) wanted him to do. Samuel knew that while he didn’t always know what was best, God did.

Does your spirit say, “God knows what’s best for me?” If you have that spirit, you’ll serve God in every way, and that means you’ll be eager to serve others.

First, a spirit of service will lead you to serve members of your family. In Genesis 39, Jacob and Esau (twin brothers) showed they really cared for each other by serving each other. Do you look for ways to serve your brothers, sisters, and parents? (See Ephesians 6:1, Matthew 7:12.)

A spirit of service will also lead you to be hospitable (the doors of your home will be open to others). Romans 12:13 tells us to be hospitable.

A spirit of service will be eager to spiritually serve new Christians who need encouragement (Matthew 18:6, Romans 14:19).

A spirit of service will make you want to serve those who are sick, suffering or sad. Jesus wants to make people who are not feeling well to feel better (Acts 5:16), so while Jesus was human, He healed many people. You do not have the power to perform miracles and heal people (nobody does now, 1 Corinthians 13:8-12), but you do have the power to encourage people who have it rough (Proverbs 17:22).

If we want to be examples of the believers, we’ll work to have the spirit of service that was so evident in Samuel (and, we believe, in Timothy). —Caleb Colley
 

How Do You Go?  

Topic(s): Christian Life

Three types of Christians:
Rowboat Christians—have to be pushed.
Sailboat Christians—always go with the wind.
Steamboat Christians—make up their minds where they ought to go and go there regardless of wind and weather.

An Egg or a Tennis Ball?

Topic(s): Christian Life, Encouragement

You may have had the unpleasant experience of learning first-hand what an egg does when it hits the floor. It bursts. A tennis ball, on the other hand, bounces back up when it hits the ground.

There is not a single person reading this article who has never made a mistake—who has never fallen. A distinction is made in the way we react to a fall. Some, like the egg, burst, while others, like the tennis ball, bounce back.

For example, Judas was overcome with grief and took his own life after he betrayed his Lord. Peter, though, after he denied Jesus, went on to become a great leader in the early church. You see, when Judas fell he burst like an egg. But Peter responded to his fall like a tennis ball—he bounced back.

Successful people are people who are able to bounce back from failure. General George Patton once stated, “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.” When asked the secret to his success, Paul Harvey responded, “I get up when I fall down.” Basically, success is getting up one more time than you fall down. I’m sure the following people would agree with me:

• Kristi Yamaguchi won the gold medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics after falling down in the middle of one of her routines.
• Michael Jordan, perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time, got cut from his high school basketball team and missed 9,000 shots in his NBA career, 26 of which lost the game for his team.
• Abraham Lincoln, this country’s most popular president, lost 8 elections, failed in business twice, and had a nervous breakdown.
• Walt Disney got fired from a newspaper for lack of ideas.
• It was said of Fred Astaire after his first screen test, “He can’t act, he’s slightly bald, but he can dance a little.”
• Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times in his career.
• Macy failed in business 7 times before his department store caught on.
• Henry Ford went broke 5 times prior to his “Model T.”
• Just think of all the light bulbs Thomas Edison blew up before he found one that actually stayed lit!

Much like these successful individuals, those who are successful in living the Christian life need to learn how to get up when they fall down. The two greatest preachers in the early church—Peter and Paul—both had a past full of failure. The secret to their success lies in the statement Paul made: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Their lives teach us that a sinful past can be the black velvet on which the diamond of God’s forgiving grace is displayed.

Never forget: grace is greater than guilt. Forgiveness is greater than failure. Paul warned the Corinthian Christians, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Let’s also remember the other side of that coin: “Let him who has fallen take heed lest he not stand back up.”

—Daniel Hope