Discipleship 101
Discipleship. This was the main focus of the IF conference some ladies at our church participated in this past weekend. It has always been a hard topic for me. It is difficult to get outside of myself and lay bare my life for someone else to get involved in, especially if there is a chance that someone will abuse or cause hurt in that relationship. God never calls us to be comfortable. He calls us to obey.
To be a disciple is to follow the doctrines of another. I truly desire to be a disciple of Christ, so why is it so hard to disciple others? It is clear in scriptures that discipleship is the way to go. Jesus took 12 men under His wing and LIVED with them. Not just on Sundays and Wednesdays. Those men were in the trenches with each other. They absolutely lived life together. Good and bad. After Jesus was resurrected and ascended back to heaven, the discipleship continued.
In Acts we see Barnabas standing up for Paul (formally Saul) since the others were doubtful of the truth of his conversion. Barnabas' name means Son of Encouragement and that is exactly what he did. He took Paul who was an outsider in the faith and welcomed him, lived life with him, and helped him become the man God intended him to be. It is beautiful to see how Paul did the same thing with Timothy. Discipleship multiplies believers. It is the way Jesus intended His name to be spread. That is exactly what the early church did. We need to get back to this. Bad.
What does that look like for us today? This is where rubber meets the road and where I struggle so much. This can be as easy as inviting someone out for coffee or lunch. Having someone over for dinner. Finding a walking buddy or someone who enjoys a hobby you also enjoy. It's starting true friendships where you are involved in each others lives. I can make excuses all day long such as - I work from home so I don't see people, I only go out to go to church, and my kids are my disciples which have all been my excuses. Now, my kids are a huge mission field for me but that doesn't mean I can't and shouldn't dive into relationships with other teen girls/women.
God has begun to convict me for my lack of real and deep relationships where I am living life alongside other women. I feel as if I am an open book and sometimes even tend to overshare or stick my foot in my mouth. I am far from perfect, but I want these friendships. My heart desires them. I struggle at times because I feel as if I have nothing to contribute or that I couldn't possibly be any help. How can I limit what God might see fit to do through me? Isn't it worth it to try and allow God to move how He sees fit?
Let's decide together to take this discipleship stuff seriously. If each of us took one person and poured into them and helped them to deepen their love and relationship with the Lord, wouldn't that be AMAZING! Then that person could take a person and that person would eventually take a person and so on. Just thinking about that makes me smile and get chills at the thought of how the Kingdom of God could be effected by that. How your(our) community could be changed! I am praying for the person God wants me to pour into more (any volunteers?) :) I am also looking for someone who could disciple me. Someone who has walked with the Lord through things I am about to face (teenagers for example). Again, any volunteers? ;)
God is so good y'all. He desires not only for us to have a relationship with Him, but He wants us to have relationships with each other. To spur each other to love and good works. As Proverbs 27:17 says "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." Let's be iron and sharpen each other. Let's be real and raw in our love for one another. Let's smile and be in awe of how God uses our obedience for His glory. Love you all. Till next time.