It's About Relationships, Not Programs

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. —2 Timothy 2:1-2

Though it is not the last of Paul’s letters in our Bibles, 2 Timothy is the apostle's last letter. He wrote it during his second incarceration in Rome, knowing that this incarceration would end with his execution.

Timothy was a young pastor in the church in Ephesus. He was Paul's protégé, a spiritual son. They had a mentor-mentee relationship. In this letter, we have Paul’s final thoughts to a young man who was especially important to him.

In the second chapter of the letter, Paul points Timothy to the source of strength for his life. He does not tell Timothy to look within himself. He does not tell Timothy what so many people say, something like, “We all have a source of strength deep within us.  Reach down and tap into it. You will find it. Then you will have the strength to get you through.” Instead, Paul points Timothy outside of himself to the grace of God in Christ Jesus. “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (verse 1).

When we try to live by looking inside ourselves for strength, we set ourselves up for a fall. We don’t have what it takes. Paul says, Timothy, look to Jesus and his grace for your strength. It is in relationship with Jesus and in dependence on him that we grow strong. First and foremost, seek Jesus. Use all the means he provides—prayer, the word, sacraments, fellowship with other believers—to encourage your growth with Jesus. Know that strength must come from him.

Next, he encourages Timothy to invest in other people. In the same way that Paul invested in him, Timothy needed to invest in others. “What you have heard from me, Timothy, entrust those things to faithful men” (verse 2).

MINTS Seminary-in-Prison and Metanoia Prison Ministries are good programs. Prison officials value them. Yesterday, I met with a prison chaplain who told stories of men in these programs who are being transformed. But it’s not the program that changes lives. The person investing the gospel and his life into another person is what brings about lasting change.

In his book The Second Mountain, David Brooks quoted a friend who said, “I’ve never seen a program turn around lives. Only relationships turn around lives.”

Also, yesterday, I was privileged to spend some time with a man who had spent the last seven years as a student in the Seminary-in-Prison and the Metanoia Correspondence Ministry. He is in a work release facility in South Florida and will be released from custody in November.

He entered prison as a drug-addicted criminal who thought his only escape from the mess he’d made of his life was to die. He will leave prison a redeemed child of God, clean and sober, educated and equipped for ministry. He plans on a post-prison career in a Christ-centered recovery ministry. He told me he wanted to give others what was given to him. And what was that that he was given?

The Gospel of Christ from people who held on to him and refused to let go, even when he was at his lowest.

That is a real-life, in-the-flesh example of how 2 Timothy 2:2 is supposed to work.

Having been strengthened by the gospel of Christ and entrusted with biblical truth, we now share those things with others.

That’s powerful.

It changes lives, families, and communities. That’s what happens when we invest time, talent, and treasure in ministries like MINTS Seminary-in-Prison and Metanoia Prison Ministries.

Thank you for doing so.

Much love, Barry