Someone You Can Count On

If you work in a leadership position in church work, you will need fellow workers.  You will not be able to do the work alone.

The question will come up as to whom you can trust.  You will have to decide the quality of men and women with whom you are surrounded, particularly your inner circle of leadership.

Here’s the kind of person you can count on no matter what is happening…

The person who comes in when everyone else goes out.  The apostle Paul paid tribute to a friend named Onesiphrous:  “When he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me and was not ashamed of my chains” (2 Timothy 1:16-18).  Paul was in a Roman prison, in great need, and deserted by almost everyone else.  He was lonely, needy, and trying very hard to be faithful in the most difficult of circumstances.  He needed a friend. 

Onesiphorus was such a friend.

Paul said, “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me” (2 Timothy 1:15).  And again, “At my first defence (before Caesar), no one supported me, but all deserted me” (2 Timothy 4:16).

Only Onesiphorus came.

Everyone else was afraid to run the risk of associating with a condemned prisoner.  Some were embarrassed that their leader was ending his ministry so shamefully.

When you succeed – win big on American idol, publish a best seller, or get promoted to the corner office – everyone is your friend.

When your reputation goes south – you are thrown in jail, suspicion abounds, and you take a job selling used cars or insurance, or you get old and sickly and are forgotten – true friends are hard to come by.

But we thank God for them.  They walk in when everyone else has walked out.