Drop the baggage and Become a Follower of Jesus!

In Paul's second letter to Timothy Paul gave a strong charge to a young pastor, Timothy.

"Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." 2 Timothy 2:22-26 NIV

Paul's challenge is clear, we must give people the hope that comes from the truth of Jesus Christ. "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" John 14:6 NIV This is the truth and the hope of the good news of knowing Jesus.

But, Paul also laid out a pattern that we must follow if we want to get to the point with people that we give them hope. In the United States we like the quickest way. We want the short cut. We want the value meal and we want it now. But there is a process to living the Christian life.

First Paul said we need to leave the bad behind. We need to leave evil desires. We need to leave foolish and stupid arguments.

Leaving the bad stuff is not enough. We must then chase after the good stuff. We must chase righteousness. We must chase faith. We must chase love. We must chase peace.

When we have reached this point we are in a position to gently teach hope. Peter spoke to this process as well when he said: "...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..." 1 Peter 3:15 NIV If we are not prepared we can't give hope.

So, what do you need to leave behind, what can you do to pursue Jesus? If you are preparing yourself and if you are following the process God will bring people in your life that you can share hope with!