1 Timothy 3:2-12

Before, I did a verse by verse meditation on these, I wanted to think about these verses in the big picture context. These verses are those that describe the qualifications for elders and deacons in the church.

I personally thought, I have no desire to be a church leader, but I do desire to follow God and so I do desire my life to match the scrutiny of these verses also.

As I started to walk it was hard not to tally a mental checklist as I went through the verses. This character trait (check), next character trait (uncheck), this trait (check back in a month). As I thought about it, regretfully I started to see it as a to do list I would put on my refrigerator. Must be gentle (Will do next week), hospitable (tomorrow), not a lover of money (Maybe I can buy a book about that at the store later today). Anyway it became rather daunting.

Instead of any answers all I got were questions in my head. "Is this possible?" "Does such a man exist?" How do you become such a man?

Then it hit me, you can't "become such a man". Such a natural man does not exist. If I treated this like a checklist of traits to add to my shopping cart, this task would never be acheivable and I would never become "such a man".

I then thought about C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity Here is a rather long quote from the book.

"Already the new men are dotted here and there all over the earth....Every now and then one meets them. Their very voices and faces are different from ours; stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant. They begin werhe most of us leave off. They are, I say, recognisable; but you must know what to look for. They will not be very like the idea of "religious people" which you have formed from your general reading. They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you. They love you more than other men do, but they need you less......They will usually seem to have a lot of time; you will wonder where it comes from. When you have recognised one of them, you will recognise the next one much more easily. And I strongly suspect that they recognise one another immediately and infallibly,........In that way to be holy is like joining a secret society. To put it at the very lowest, it must be great fun..............To become new men means losing what we now call "ourselves." Out of ourselves, into Christ, we must go. His will is to become ours and we are to think His thoughts, to "have the mind of Christ" as the Bible says."

This is how I think we become these "new men". Set apart to lead Christ's church. Not to follow a checklist of character to do's, but to become more Christ like. To put on his mind. To be more, not to do more. As Paul prayed for the Ephesians "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being" This is how you become "such a man".