“1 Then he went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek. 2 The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to go with him, so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for them to observe. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.”

Acts 16:1-5

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This is a wonderfully uncomplicated process that we find Paul engaged in as he spreads the Gospel. Take these first few verses of chapter 16. The church in Lystra recommended Timothy for deeper discipling, and so Paul does. There was no need to hold an interview, a vote, to have him run through a process or jump through hoops. Timothy simply stood out as one who was taking his walk with Christ seriously, and was a good example to everyone else. In this, he stood out and because he was willing to do what was needed for the sake of the Gospel, he would become not simply an elder in his town, but a travelling missionary and evertually a permenant minister elsewhere. There was freedom and simplicityin the process. 

Again, Paul is carrying out the desires of the council of Jerusalem and sharing their desicion with the Gentile believers. He is delivering freedom, not legalism. He is delivering joy and hope, not hardship or a stack of rules. He is communicating a new life, a better life, that they would get to take part in apart from their old life. When you present the Gospel, that is what you are bringing. Freedom comes with the Good News, not a burden. Paul did a wonderful job of communicating truth, accountability and freedom all at the same time, and God used him well for it. He understood, personally, what it meant to be tied down with the burdens of legalism. He lived that life, he walked that path personally, and he knew its pains well. 

As we GoLove others in Jesus’ Name, we need to make sure that we are delivering the good news and freedom in Christ. We need to do the same for ourselves. There is joy in the Gospel, not a secondary burden. There is adventure and freedom, and we need to communicate that clearly to others and ourselves. It takes a prayerful effort, and it should.