God looks at the heart of the matter namely whether a young person has a heart set on purity, goodness, and faith or on carnality, wickedness, and pride. In 1 Timothy, Paul encourages his young disciple to fight the good fight and holding on to faith with a good conscience. Paul role models what is require to serve God in faith. The apostle's requirements are quite different than what would normally be expected. Paul does not ask Timothy to be perfect, to be a saint, or to be successful at least not in the world's perspective. In fact, Paul begins sharing and repeating his own testimony to Timothy that he was once a blasphemer, persecutor, and violent man who acted in ignorance and unbelief. However, God invites Paul to join His mission of saving and transforming lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul does a complete 180 degree turn and does begin to serve God. In addition, the apostle Paul understands that he is a sinner and even confesses that he is the worst kind of sinner because he persecuted believers in Christ. From this example, however, God's heart for the lost is evident as well as His desire to find humble, faithful, and obedient missional disciples.
In Paul's instruction to Timothy, God's desire for every disciple is made apparent that He looks for pure hearts filled with sincere faith and a good conscience to fulfill His mission. God's missional youths all possess a shared quality - a faithful obedient heart. Throughout Scripture, God looks for those who can serve him with faith and obedience. In 1 Timothy, Paul lays out the foundation of faith comes from love that is born out of a pure heart. This does not mean a sinless heart but a heart filled with sincere faith. Apart from Jesus Christ, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. However, in the power of Christ and with sincere faith, a disciple can follow God's mission with a good conscience through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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