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 on 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 masterpieces— 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