Investing in the Next Generation: Examples of Biblical Investing

​Last week we talked about examples of people in the Bible who invested in the next generation. While investing in the next generation is important and we should each be doing that in the ways that God calls us, there are other ways that we can invest in people. There are plenty of ways that we see God’s people investing in one another throughout Scripture.

Some of those were next generation kinds of investments like Moses with Joshua, Paul with Timothy, or Barnabas with John Mark. In Numbers 27 we see Moses ask God to appoint a new leader over Israel to replace him and God told him to commission Joshua. Even before this time though, Moses had been developing Joshua as a leader. As far back as Exodus 17, we see Moses trusting Joshua to choose and lead men in battle against the Amalekites. Joshua was alongside Moses as he prepared to go up Mount Sinai to meet with God. There are many other references to Joshua working alongside Moses, and we know that he was one of the spies sent into the Promised Land and one of only two who stood up for what God was telling them to do. Moses spent years investing in Joshua, and helping to prepare him for what God  would call him to do.

Likewise we see this kind of mentoring of the next generation in Barnabas and John Mark. Paul and Barnabas took John Mark along with them on their missionary journey. He helped them and learned from them. Later when Paul didn’t want to take John Mark on another journey because he had left the last one early, Barnabas so strongly disagreed that he separated from his friend and co-worker, Paul. They went their separate ways and Barnabas continued to mentor John Mark. The investment that Barnabas made in the life of John Mark clearly made a difference because eventually Paul also began working with John Mark again and expressed appreciation for him. It is even believed that that John Mark is the author of the gospel of Mark based on Peter’s eyewitness accounts. Much like Barnabas with John Mark, we also see this same type of next generation mentoring with Paul and Timothy as they ministered along side each other until Timothy became a leader in ministry as well.

We also see examples of believers investing in the lives of other less mature believers to help them grow in their faith. Sometimes these less mature believers may have been younger than them, but other times they may have been the same age or could have been even older. Obviously the investment that Jesus made in the lives of His disciples is a great example of mentoring people and helping them grow.

We also see this example in the early days of Paul and Barnabas. When we think of this pair, we usually think of them as co-laborers on their missionary journeys. If we go back to Acts chapter 9 though, we see that shortly after Paul’s dramatic conversion from a persecutor of Christ-followers to a Christ-follower himself other believers were afraid of him, which seems pretty understandable. This is what we are told about the start of Barnabas and Paul’s relationship in Acts 9:26-27

“When he (Paul) came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.”

We’re also told in Acts 11:25-26 that:

“And he (Barnabas) left for Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

Barnabas supported and encouraged Paul, he introduced him to the disciples, and he reached out and brought him along to do ministry with him in Antioch. Paul was able to do all of the things he did because Barnabas was obedient and invested in him.

We see all of these accounts of people investing in others throughout the Bible, so the question is, who has God placed around you that He is calling you to invest in? Will you do it?