God commanded his disciples to “go and make disciples of all
nations…” (Matthew 28:19). What does making disciples involve? Luckily, some
mentors in my life demonstrated what that could look like. Jesus modeled
discipleship in the calling of his disciples and in his mandate to them to make
disciples, baptizing them and “teaching them to obey” (Matthew 28:19-20). The
goal of discipleship, then, is to teach believers to obey God, to imitate
Christ and love like he did (Ephesians 5).
Is it possible that we most effectively make disciples by
simply inviting them to be part of regular, daily aspects of life? Jesus asked
his disciples to simply follow him, becoming part of his entire life. If
discipleship aims to point believers toward relationship with Christ, then what
better way than by allowing those people to witness the living relationship
fostering obedience in the routine grind we call daily life?
Recently, God took me through a time of reflecting on how I
ended up working at SAM Academy. Through participation in various things, from
camp and sports to coaching and teaching, people took the time to mentor me,
and I was then given the chance to mentor others. Reflecting back on seasons of
growth and dreaming forward into future desires, I see God planted in me a love
for discipleship.
Now I get to teach MKs in Peru. I love the discipleship I
get to be a part of here as I spend a lot of time with the students I teach.
The idea of discipling, having the chance to become more like Christ myself and
to encourage others in becoming more like Him, energizes me and excites me! If
God puts just one student in my life this year who I encourage to imitate
Christ, I praise God for His work in that student’s life. It’s often through everyday
life that I see God open doors to get to know students more and to grow in
becoming imitators of Christ together. While swimming with students, for
instance, one teenager told me about what God was teaching her and how a
particular Bible passage had come alive to her. I rejoiced at how this young
heart thirsted for relationship and yearned to obey! The family-oriented
atmosphere in this community has enabled rich discipleship when desired.
Christ’s discipleship, an intentional time with specific
followers devoted to Christ, did and does come at a cost. Jesus asked his
disciples to leave things (Luke 5:11) and leave people (Luke 9:60) to follow
him. Jesus even called those who “hear God’s word and put it into practice” his
mother and brothers at the expense of leaving those family titles exclusively
for earthly families (Luke 8:19-21). Following Christ as a disciple, he said,
means this: “’If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up
his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me will save it’” (Luke 9:23). God calls us all
to relationship, which inspires obedience. May our discipleship ignite such
uninhibited obedience.
With joy and at some cost, I want to be a disciple and I
want to take up the cross of discipling others. I pray God might teach us as
believers how to daily, moment-by-moment take up our crosses and follow him as
one body of Christ.
