The “Tentmakers”: You and Your Skills (Part 1)

From: Tracy John

By Strive Masiyiwa

The Apostle Paul had a remarkable revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and accounts for nearly two thirds of the New Testament. He is by far my favourite bible character, after The Lord Jesus Himself….. I just love Paul!!! Paul had remarkable intellect, and was passionate about reading and learning. He was one of the most educated men, in his day. Just his writing style alone, has had more influence on the structure of language, than any man in history.

He was passionate about evangelism, and traveled through many parts of Europe and Asia, on foot! He was a man of boundless energy!

He was also a very successful entrepreneur! He even entered into joint ventures, with business partners. He made a lot of money, and although he received money from partners, who wanted to help him in his missionary trips, he never needed “aid or support from anyone”. He graciously received the money, because he knew it would bless those who gave him the money.

Through Paul, we learn that God’s concern is not that we have money,but rather how we make the money, and how we use it. Paul and his colleagues worked hard, made money, and used it to mount missionary trips, plant churches, and give to the poor; they kept nothing for themselves, and did not care for the trappings of wealth themselves. They did not beg anyone,or demand anything from anyone; they were as he put it, “self sufficient, and requiring no aid from anyone. And fully able to meet any need that confronted them.” They saw the “love” of money, as evil, and not money, as evil.

Paul was a highly skilled professional man, and his skills were highly sought after. He was just like some of you, who might be computer programmers, architects, engineers, technicians, or farmers.

Where did I learn all this, you might ask? It is all right there in the bible; I do not use any other source other than the bible itself; and I do not read commentaries, about the bible.

The life of Paul as shown in the scriptures, shows us that even if you see yourself, as highly educated, it is important to always see your education, in terms of how it translates into skills; this is because to put food on the table, to send children to school, to be able to help those in need, to be able to partner in the work of ministry; we need to be PAID for our skills. We are paid for our skills, even if those skills derive from education.

In the next few posts, I intend to examine the issue of skills, and skills development.

Are you a “Tentmaker”?

To be continued…

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