Now that I am officially a support staff member for Laura, I thought it might be fitting to give her a break from writing one of these and offer my perspective as to what God is teaching not just me, but both of us.
Laura and I recently were able to go to our bi-yearly staff conference for CRM in Estes Park, CO. Here we were able to not only connect with awesome staff members and their spouses, but we also were able to deepen our faith, relax in Papa’s beautiful outdoors, and be challenged and encouraged in our ministries. The topic of the conference was discipleship. This word has been thrown around a lot because discipleship has become the “in" thing to do, a new fad throughout the Church realm. While some of the talking points and sessions were not to my taste, there were significant results from the conference because it got both Laura and I thinking about what discipleship truly is, what God thinks of it, and how can we incorporate it into our ministry-- not just because it’s the cool thing to do, but because we truly desire to see others come to know and understand the Almighty God we know and love.
So what does it really mean to be a disciple myself? I mean, how can I expect to disciple someone if I’m not being a good disciple myself? As I was mulling over this question, one of my favorite powerhouse Christian heroes explained it well. Oswald Chambers in his book, My Utmost for His Highest, states that to be a disciple, one’s “motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child.” Oh, okay… that’s all. No problem. I got that down... Not really. Not even close. How often I fail to come close to this! Daily I make my faith, my beliefs, my trust in God so complicated, and yet all He asks of us is to believe as a little child does. All this isn’t supposed to be complicated. It’s simple; at least it’s supposed to be. Oswald goes on to say, “The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within.”
Discipleship starts with me-- my inside. Until I have experienced the mighty, wonderful, redemptive work and enlightenment of God’s love I cannot begin to disciple others. God’s love is what changes people. The fact that I have a great five step program to make someone holy is nothing compared to what the realization and understanding of God’s love can do in, through, and to someone. We should be so moved by God’s love and compassion that we can’t help but want to disciple others and bring them to know the awesomeness of God and His love. If we are motivated by anything else, our efforts miss the reason for the gospel… We miss the point. If we miss the point then we are no better than the Pharisees and the scribes.
In all things, be moved by the compassion that comes from God’s own heart. Be moved to act not because of selfish reasons or guilt, but because your heart breaks or is fired up to see others impacted by the wonderfulness of our God. That should be our driving force. Nothing else.
Till next time,
Christian
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