Understanding Discipleship

"Am I willing to be of no value to this age or this life except for one purpose and one alone— to be used to disciple men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ?"
~Oswald Chambers

God has been working the ideas of discipleship into my thoughts quite steadily over the last several weeks.... A men's group studying "The Great Omission," renewed passion about service in Young Life-a ministry with a discipleship model, and relationship articles talking about the need for discipleship in one's marriage.

How do I answer the question posed by Oswald above? I'm not there... I would like to be able to say my daily actions were only supporting the idea of discipling men and women, but I'm afraid I am working alone too much for this to be effective. As a teacher by training, I really have no excuse for not making discipleship a more intentional part of my witness.

As with all things in my walk, I can be confident the easiest way for me to be a better and more effective witness is to be more consistent in my daily commitment and communication to Christ. It is so easy to fall into the fallacy of me doing more, or being more effective at any one of a thousand good things. How good can I be at the most important thing...consistently and completely submit my life to Christ and then get out of the way! I'm slowly learning that I might be good at some things, but God desires my service much more than my advice on how to do something.

Lord, I thank you for the prompting you grant us in so many ways. Please help me in turning over every area of my life to you that I might be a better disciple, husband, father, and leader today.

Praying for Workers

36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
~Matthew 9: 36 - 37

What does it mean to look harassed and helpless? What did it look like in the time of Jesus?

I imagine the distressed, frantic look of the people. Harassed by life; continually bombarded by well-placed comments and teachings about the places they didn't measure up.

Whether the feelings are visible or not, are we very far from this in today's world? What is so different? Seems that if we boil it down to the essentials-people are still being harassed by the world-assaulted by the media, by advertising, by competitive co-workers.... Perhaps the saddest thing is our lack of community. At least in the time of Jesus, people were willing to feel distress together-they were willing to go as a crowd-as a community to search out healing.

We are so disconnected, we sit in a plush couch, twenty feet from an unknown neighbor, in a house whose cost would feed a family for years, and receive comfort from an infomercial salesperson who seems to understand what we need. What happened to us? Is progress really worth it? We know it isn't going away, and yet our laziness forces the work on less and less people relative to the job set before us.

Simple request. Ask for workers. Perhaps I'm one of those workers, perhaps my neighbor is. When did I last spent time asking for them? Are we asking for workers from the right source? Self-help and Oprah are just a bit different than the "...God of the harvest..."

A Transformation of Views

16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
~2 Corinthians 5: 16 - 17

Paul was the man. If my simple life is any indication, I have no doubt Paul's internal dialogs must have been something to behold. To read Paul's words, he undeniably lived AMONG people. His ministry was not something of isolation and quiet prayer for the world on a mountaintop-he got dirty with his work. I have such respect for the man.

Living among people as a witness to our Lord makes the Christian life harder, but our worldly existences also makes living as Christ's witness more real. Every time God's Word takes me past a stumbling block; every time I weep at the realization of answered prayer; every time I am moved past my human limitations of thought and reflection by worship, God gently reminds me I am "...Christ's ambassador..." and my days are measured.

What will I allow to lead me away from God's work today? Why?