Across Church Street
Pinned
A conversation I had with God about grace.
I had a conversation with God this morning.
ME: Father, give me the grace to follow you more fully.
GOD: My grace is sufficient for you.
ME: Well, then give me the grace to better appropriate that grace.
GOD: My grace is sufficient for you.
ME: But I need more of your grace.
GOD: My grace is sufficient for you. Desire me, not my grace. Seek first my kingdom. Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and the rest will take care of itself.
At this point I wanted to ask for the grace to seek first his kingdom and to love him this way. But I saw that I was pinned.
Making disciples is evangelism, not sanctification
Making disciples is different from discipleship. Making disciples is making new followers of Jesus.
A statement like this raises two questions for me.
When is a disciple made?
When the church was commissioned to make disciples, what were we being called to do, exactly?
We tend to think disciples are made over a long period of time, the fruit of good training. But this verse in John 4 suggests disciples are made quickly, the fruit of a person's worship and surrender to Christ's friendship and authority.
So, where does 'making disciples' fit in the work of the church?
Make manifest the Gospel.
Call people to "Come, follow Jesus". Anchor to Him. (Make disciples)
Connect disciples to communities of disciples. Kingdom citizenship.
Organize and energize ministry to the Body of Christ and the world around us.
“Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John... ”
A moving, simmering pot
Some of us need to slow down. Others of us need to take a step.
“While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. [Later, after Jesus left] They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?””
Biblically, a follower of Christ is on a path to maturity—a journey toward stability, gratitude, and generosity. The journey requires us to take steps of faith. But there's also something mysterious going on. At every point, God is doing something deep inside us.
If you are a Getting Things Done, Inbox Zero kind of a person, you may need to carve out time to discern what's simmering beneath.
If you're a more reflective sort, it may be time to move—to take a step.
Jesus said: "Follow me, and I will make you..." (Matt. 4:19). We move and we are formed.
- love
- friendship
- beauty
- thankful
- attunement
- communion
- discipline
- video
- hope
- hania rani
- holiness
- serving
- seth godin
- dean sherman
- across
- covenant
- music
- eternal life
- justice
- embodiment
- wonder
- gracious
- hesed
- welcome
- poetry
- rest
- image
- brokenness
- disruption
- invitation
- companion mode
- resonance
- steadfast
- observer mode
- framework
- pastoral
- oneness
- caritas
- difference
- shalom
- john stott
- worship
- status
- care
I practice the spiritual discipline of rescuing earthworms on paved surfaces. It's a reminder to me that I can pause what I'm doing, get a little dirty, and help. Also, that I've been given the responsibility to care.