Tuesday, August 14, 2007

always "on" discipleship

Our family has spent the last two days in the incredible surroundings of Pine Cove, sometimes serving and mostly being served. I'm grateful for the prayers of friends who have been supporting my ministry to about 40 families this week. This evening, I will present an evangelistic message on forgiveness.

One of the things that I have noticed during my time here is how the counselors at Pine Cove are always "on"--always enthusiastic, consistently helpful, faithfully God-centered. And, it affects people continually. They remind me that discipleship is not an event. It's a lifestyle. What I mean is, it's not something a person turns on an off. Truth is, we're always discipling others in one direction or another. This is especially true of us parents. Our children are always writing notes from our lives (even when we don't think they are). Someone once said that we are the clock tower that they set their time by. They learn how to respect others by the way we treat our waitress. They learn how to honor commitments by the way we honor our word to them. They learn the value of service when they watch us give up our place for others. They develop healthy relational tools when they watch us run toward reconciliation with others rather than run from our problems. Our words end up becoming their words. Our lives are impressed upon their lives.

Wow. That's a sobering thought. They're always watching. We're always on.

1 comment:

Jungle Pop said...

I hear ya about discipleship being a lifestyle rather than an event. I heard someone once (maybe it was Keith?) ask, "When did Jesus' followers become believers?" The answer is up for debate. But if you ask, "When did Jesus begin discipling his followers?" then the answer is obvious. Right away...and at some point, they (well, most) became believers.