the Apprentice

The Appren­tice

Selected for a term of tutor­ing by a mas­ter crafts­man, an appren­tice spent a good seven years of his life learn­ing the ways of the trade. The mas­ter crafts­man would teach the appren­tice while he per­formed his work and led his shop. It was the duty of the appren­tice to observe his mas­ter and learn the ways of the trade. Addi­tion­ally there could be jour­ney­men around, for­mer appren­tices now work­ing on their mas­ter­piece work. The hope of the appren­tice was to illus­trate com­pe­tency enough to become a jour­ney­man, aspir­ing to the traits of the master.

Sim­i­larly, a young fol­lower of Jesus spends a good many years learn­ing what is expected of a fol­lower of Christ through the Mas­ter and with the help of jour­ney­men along the way. While we can­not achieve the sta­tus of our mas­ter this side of eter­nity, we can bear His image—becoming more like Him. Jour­ney­men, the mature Christ fol­low­ers around us, are work­ing out their own mas­ter piece— their life’s work.

“Now this is the com­mand­ment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God com­manded me to teach you… You shall teach them dili­gently to your chil­dren, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deuteron­omy 6:1–7 ESV