 What does discipleship look like? This is a question we keep asking. Our role is to be disciples and make disciples who make disciples. I have been reading “Wikichurch”, a book about discipleship that has caused me to think about what “safe Christianity” looks like. We are called to be a light in darkness, but often the temptation is to stay with other lights, live in the light and never take our light into the darkness. A Christian that only has Christian friends, only spends time with other Christians and is not regularly and intentionally engaging those who don’t know Christ, has for all intents and purposes, become ineffective. So how do we become effective disciples?
Dale Partridge says, “If we pray for God to guide our steps, are we willing to move our feet?” The answer for me has been, “sometimes” or “it depends”. Sure, there have been moments of surrender, of dying to ourselves on the journey that we walk with Him, but the longer you journey the more you realize what laying down your life and carrying your cross may entail. This became more apparent to us when we encountered a young man who has had (without his intention) a profound impact on us. He was living on the street, in the cold and he reached out for help. Our initial response was that we could not help him. We could contact some places that worked with the homeless, maybe give him some food and a blanket. We could not however, invite him into our own home. There were many good reasons (excuses) for this. “It would not be wise to invite a stranger into your home”. “It isn’t safe”. “You don’t know him”. “What if he robs you, or hurts you or your family”. Good reasons. We did not have peace though, to leave him when we could help him. We felt God nudging, gently but relentlessly, we could not shake the feeling that we needed to act. One of my personal struggles is fudging the lines between my role and God’s. Sometimes I pray for or try to do what God should be doing and pray or expect Him to do what I should be doing. I try to be God and expect Him to be me. There is a danger that we can get caught praying for God to move, speak or act, forgetting that He already has. Now it is our turn to do the same. To live out the relationship, teaching and instruction we have in Christ. James tells us that when we see a man who is hungry, don’t just pray for him and send him on his way. Give him some bread as well. In Matthew 25 when Jesus talks about those He knew, He mentions those that acted, that took in the homeless, fed the hungry and visited those in prison. Actions are the result, not the cause of our salvation. So here was our struggle, we had good excuses, but then again, so did the early disciples. Their choice to be obedient was at the risk of discomfort, bodily harm and even death. Yet, they were obedient. What has changed since then? I do not want to live a “safe faith”, fighting for my comfort. We are called to consider the cost of following Christ. It will cost everything to gain everything. So we invited him home. He stayed only two days, one night and by then we were able to find him longer term accommodation. The stay was not easy, but deeply rewarding. We learnt to trust God in a new way and realized what was possible when we're obedient. We could have walked away and never have seen or thought of him again. Instead some lives were changed, not just his, but ours as well. It feels like a step in the right direction. Read more... |
