“Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy  to you soon so that I too may be encouraged by news about you. For I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests; all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know his proven character, because he has served with me in the gospel ministry like a son with a father. Therefore, I hope to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Ministry can be an intensely lonely affair. I don’t say that out of complaint because I don’t often feel it, but merely observation because it is a reality for so very many who have accepted God’s call to service, especially in a full time capacity. You are often surrounded by people, but because of the nature of the work and the nature of the world, it is often difficult to know who you can really trust to let in. Overcoming that takes effort and intentionality. Paul took a path that could have been very lonely indeed. But he did the work to avoid that trap and its dangers. At the end of chapter 2 here, he talks about two of the men he held dear. Let’s take a look at each in turn.

One of the fundamental truths of physics is that a person cannot be in two places at the same time. Sometimes, though, we need to be. We are needed in two places at the same time. Or perhaps we are trapped in one while needing to be in another. That was the case for Paul. There was ministry he needed to be able to go and do, but he was in prison in Rome. He had no way to get there.

In that kind of a situation, it’s always good to have a representative we can trust to send in our place. Fortunately, Paul had this in Timothy. Timothy was Paul’s ministry partner. He was his traveling companion for the second and third of his missionary journeys. He was his protege and mentee. He was Paul’s friend. He was some Paul personally watched and took an active role in seeing develop from a young believer who was just learning his way to a faithful pastor and friend he could trust to take on the toughest of assignments.

We think Timothy had been with Paul when he traveled on Rome’s dime (because he was officially their prisoner) from Jerusalem to Rome. He’s not specifically mentioned, but Luke narrates the whole trip in the first person, so at least he was with him as a prisoner. What happened to Paul after the two year period he was in Rome teaching freely in his own rented house with a soldier to guard him we don’t know. Some think he managed to travel on to Spain to proclaim the Gospel there. We know he wound up back in Rome, again as a prisoner, which put him in the circumstances he was facing while writing this letter.

At some point during this season, Timothy served as the pastor of the church in Ephesus. We know that because Paul wrote him two letters (1 and 2 Timothy) while he was in prison in Rome. From what Paul writes here, though, Timothy seems to have ended up back in Rome with Paul and was ministering to him there. Paul’s concern for the Philippians was such that he felt the need to send Timothy to minister to and encourage them, and to be able to report back to Paul on their status.

Paul was so confident in Timothy because he knew of “no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests.” Timothy had developed into a truly selfless leader. Those are a rare breed as Paul himself notes: “all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” Too many leaders are in it for their own gain. That includes pastors. Even those who start with noble intentions can be drawn off track in pursuit of their own interests instead of those of Jesus. It can happen frighteningly easily, and is something we need to be constantly on guard against in our own hearts and minds. Having a close friend who has the permission to speak into our lives will help.

Timothy was different, though. He had proven himself and his reputation preceded him. “But you know his proven character, because he has served with me in the gospel ministry like a son with a father.” I think there are two things we should hear in Paul’s reflection on Timothy here. First, we need to make sure we are developing our own character like this. Having a proven character isn’t something that happens overnight. We don’t flip a switch and magically have the kind of character that honors and brings glory to God. It takes intentional development over time. We do the hard work necessary to create and sustain it.

The second thing is that we need to have someone we are developing like this. If we don’t come to have a character like this by accident, neither will anyone else. As much as we need to be intentional about developing our own character, we need to be actively pouring into another, younger believer, developing them in the faith as well. If God has filled your cup, you need to be pouring out from that cup, using the overflow God has given you to bless someone else. It may be that you don’t have the capacity to do this with more than one other person, but you need to be doing at least that. We need to always have at least one person we are mentoring in the faith and one person with whom we are sharing the Gospel to bring them to the faith.

As much as we want to hold people close, though, there comes a time when we have to release them to God’s service and His plans for them. “Therefore, I hope to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.” If we are intentional about developing others like this, eventually we’ll have a whole roster of people we have grown in the faith. We’ll have a whole community of friends who are bonded to us and us to them. These will be people about whom we care deeply and who return the favor. And when we have a whole bunch of people who care about us intentionally like this, loneliness will not be the challenge it could be.

So, who are you developing? Who is developing you? You need answers to both of those questions. If the answer is no one, it’s time to change that. Start praying now for God to send someone your way into whose life you can pour from your own cup (which you are keeping full by staying engaged with the Scriptures, with prayer, and with the church, right?), growing them up in their own faith. Pray for Him to lead you across the path of someone who can help you grow as well and don’t be shy about asking for it. As you receive from and invest in the church like this, it will be all the stronger and better for it, and so will you. Let’s get to work.