PAUL WENT ON to say: “Therefore I sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord” (1 Cor. 4:17). Here he presented Timothy as an illustration of what he meant by becoming a spiritual father. Timothy was an example of Paul’s spiritual creativeness—a shining example. He had just said that he was the spiritual father of the Corinthians, and now he presented as an example Timothy, whose father was a Greek and his mother a Jewess. Paul could win Jews and Gentiles, and a mixture of both. He could win persons apart from race and class. He was all things to all men that he might win them.
This convert of mixed blood became a great center of spiritual contagion, so much so that Paul wrote him two important letters. Those letters have been a guide not only to Timothy, but to countless millions around the world in all ages. What he invested in Timothy, one person, became an investment in humanity. You cannot tell what you are starting when you start one person for Christ. You touch him, he touches others, and on and on it goes endlessly. Jesus said the seed falling on good ground brought forth thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold. Thirtyfold is 3,000 percent, sixtyfold is 6,000 percent, and a hundredfold is 10,000 percent on the investment. High percentage? Yes, but not exaggerated. The investment in persons is the only bank that will not break.
When Singapore fell to the Japanese, two men met on board a ship which was taking refugees out, one a missionary bishop and the other an oil man. The oil man said to the bishop, “You have invested your life in people in Malaya. These people will bend under the storm of the Japanese invasion, and when the war is over they will straighten up again. Your work will be intact. I have invested my life in oil wells which I had to blow up when I left. My life work has been lost.”
O Jesus, Thou hast invested Thy life in us. We are amazed at Thy doing it. We are also amazed at the loyalty in our hearts and the gratitude which we feel for Thy investment in us. We are Thy workmanship. I thank Thee. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: When I invest in people, I invest in an everlasting investment.
