1 Timothy 4:16
Take heed to yourself and to your teaching; hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
One of the delightful facts about faith is that it has a ripple effect. The people who brought Jesus the paralytic and lowered him through the roof had faith that overflowed into the paralytic’s life. That is why Scripture says that it was when Jesus saw “their” faith that he healed the paralyzed man. This wonderful capacity of faith to overflow is also partly what makes sense of baptizing babies. Junior may not yet have a fully formed faith, what with his being only a week old and all, but his parents believe and so they let their faith in Christ open the door of Christ’s grace for Junior till Junior is tall enough to reach the doorknob himself. That is why Paul tells Timothy that by hold to the gospel he will save not only himself but his hearers. It’s because Timothy believes that he has something to say. And it’s because he says it that his hearers catch his faith. Today, let your faith overflow its banks a bit and irrigate a little dry land.
