Three Generations

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

The best leaders are those who train their successors. But they don’t stop there. They train their successors to the point that they are able to teach the next generation of leaders. The best leaders are thinking three generations, theirs, their successors and their successors successors.

In the military we are trained to always think of the second and third order affects. It is not enough to think about the current action, but what are the possible unexpected outcomes of the action. And then what are the possible outcomes of those outcomes. We are trained to think far beyond ourselves and two more iterations of actions into the future.

I remember when “New Coke” was brought onto the market and then quickly removed. Now if that wasn’t just a publicity stunt, did someone at the company actually drink the New Coke? Didn’t they consider their loyal customers and what their reactions might be? They had apparently not considered that people would not like their new flavor.

As a grandparent, I am not so much training my own children who are now grown, but trying to instill in my grandchildren the values that guide our lives. I reinforce their parent’s guidelines. I model what godly living looks like. I am a supporting and caring figure in their lives.

In Paul’s letter to Timothy, his younger student, Paul emphasizes the centrality of the Gospel. He wants Timothy, and those who are being taught by Timothy, to continue faithful and on track. He wants them to stay true to the Gospel that Paul had himself received. Paul does not take credit for the mystery that Gentiles would be included with the Jews in God’s marvelous plan. He was just passing it along.

The message of the Gospel is only two generations away from extinction, that is, if God wasn’t the One propelling and sustaining the Truth. It is not enough to train your replacement to just do the job. We must train our replacements to be able to train the next group to replace them. We must be training trainers.

Paul’s message was a very public message. He proclaimed it widely, unlike some of the false teachers of his day, who proclaimed their false doctrine to a small number of people. Paul shouted it from the housetops. He wanted many witnesses of the message he had received. The more the better.

I pray that we will be emboldened to proclaim widely the freedom from sin that we have the privilege of experiencing. Let’s hold nothing back.