Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2:17 he had an intense longing to see the Thessalonians again. As a Christian we are given a love for people and a desire for them to know God. We are also given an even deeper sweeter love for fellow Christians, because we want God's people to grow in their faith. This doesn't mean we love Christians more than non-believers. It is simply a different kind of love. It is a bonding kind of passionate love. This kind of bond is described in 1 Thessalonians 1:20 to make other believers be "our joy." How powerful is the thought that we would long to be in the company of other Christians because it brings us joy to know we are all in the family of God? This should make us as excited as Paul was. Don't skim over this next sentence because each of these is detrimental to our faith. We should carry each other's burdens, trust one another with the confessing of sins, and love one another enough to disciple and be discipled. What is discipleship? It is investing in someone's walk with God.
There are three important steps to investing in a Christian.
1) Prayer
People don't get discipled just because it is fun to pour endless time and energy into someone. It sure can be fun but it won't always be. Sometimes it will take a lot of hard work and it will seem like there is no progress. We are to push forward anyway. Paul was a very motivated person to do all the traveling and preaching that he did. After all, he devoted his entire life to it. He traveled roughly 4,600 miles (and not with a car), spent countless hours in various churches, and even endured persecution. God saved many through his efforts.
This was possible only because he was continually in prayer for these people. (The Bible speaks a lot about Paul's prayer life for other Christians but I'm going to take a guess at the order he prayed in). First, he committed time to thanking God for the people he was going to be investing in. This showed he genuinely cared for their well-being even when "off stage". He wanted to see them through the eyes of God before he did anything else. Then, he relied on God to reveal what the people needed to hear and he relayed the message. Once he began speaking, he gave wisdom.
2) Wisdom
Where did this wisdom come from? Paul admits in 2 Corinthians 10 that he is "timid when face to face" but "bold when away" (as a writer I can definitely relate, Paul!) See, Paul did not speak because he was gifted in giving sermons or because it came easily to him.
He was already seeking wisdom because of his love for God. He then shared that wisdom because who honestly likes to hold in something that is amazing? Nobody! He wanted to share the things of God because the Holy Spirit was empowering him to do so and his love for God gave him the passion for it. He wasn't bold by himself. He simply allowed the Holy Spirit to give him courage and strength.
This too is how we can receive wisdom to impart in others. We do not need to see how we ourselves can change people's lives. We should rather look to God for wisdom and trust him to work through us to accomplish the rest.
3) Discipleship itself
Paul did not stop after he preached a sermon to a group of people. Nope. If listening to a sermon was all we Christians are called to do, then that's a pretty simplistic and meaningless faith. After delivering the gospel, Paul looked to the people's actions to see if they were living out what had been taught to them. He continued to pray for them while away. Paul knew that conversion itself is not a one-time event. Getting saved is the first step towards a lifelong journey of growing closer to God. What does this mean for us? We can not invite people to church or even lead them to Jesus and quit there. We must continue to check in on believers as Paul did with his letters to the churches. It can't end with us either. We must get others to join us in pouring into them. Listen to this next part. It is the most important thing you will read all day.
If we do not equip the discipled to disciple others, our efforts are a waste. If someone hadn't told you about God, you wouldn't be saved. So when we lead someone to God, we must convince them that it can not end there. It must keep growing. Each person must invest in someone else so that Christianity does not die out. Jesus came to Earth for a purpose. Paul understood this. We must strive every day to ensure Jesus's grace wasn't given in vain.
