I've recently been thinking about discipling and what all that entails. I've had the great pleasure of having two really great disciplers so far. In high school, my youthpastor, Gerald discipled me. My second was in my first two years of college with Chase. Both of them took time to invest in me personally and weekly for my spiritual well-being. As I've had time to mull over the time I've spent with each, and now I'm looking to the task of being a "discipler" myself, I now know that disciplemaking is truly a serious task.
In high school, Gerald set the standard for me of reading the Bible daily and praying. Indeed, most of what I do now has stemmed from my high school days. Gerald also passed on his passion of digging under the surface of scripture into me, causing me to read and reread passages. Chase instilled in me how to apply what I've read and how to cross-reference passages. Both also taught me things outside of how to read the Bible. I've been taught how to convey christian ideals to non-christians, what it looks like to be a member of the body of Christ, and what it means to be a christian in today's society. All of these ideas have been crucial to my walk with God and I thank God that I had two very godly men in my life to learn from.
The learning didn't stop there. In both cases, I have picked up some of their other passions and "habits" as well. With Gerald, I became enthralled with Old Testament knowledge, for it the OT is the backbone for how we perceive the New Testament. Chase has passed on his love of prayer to me. Prayer is the vehicle through which we not only talk to God, but it is also how God works in a very physical way in our lives. While these passions are still biblically founded, I also have received their more secular vocabulary usage. Gerald's vocabulary was out of the ordinary, in that, I found myself going to the dictionary to find the meaning of the word. Chase's vocabulary was the epitomy of college-speak. Other things that I took from them were the love of Monty Python and Seinfeld(Gerald), appreciation of christian rap (Chase), and the joy of roadtrips (both Gerald and Chase).
However, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the negative ramifications of spending time watching a discipler in action. Since we are sinful men, we cannot be wholeheartedly (in flesh and spirit) be Christ-like models. We live in a fallen world, and we are fallen ourselves. With this in mind, a discipler can (and will) model things with a skewed view. This is the crucial stage wherein one must be careful and ever-dependent on God to provide the right view.
In light of all of this, God STILL commands us to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
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