Discipling Souls

Hi everyone,

So I want to talk about something that I have believe God has been impressing upon me recently and even today. I have been observing and pondering on our interactions with each other as human beings and the different relationships that we all have with different people in our lives. Every day, unless we are a hermit :D, we have interactions with people. Depending on the situation and the person, it can be merely communicating with people we don't necessarily know personally, acquaintances, co-workers, friends, family etc....nevertheless we have communications with people on a day-to-day basis. I have been thinking lately of how we respond to other people and how as Christians we are to build each other up and be a light to others. And then something else came to mind that a friend's text today also brought about. We are to disciple other believers. The word disciple in noun form means: follower, person who learns from another. Now the verb form means: to train, to educate, to teach. In the New Testament, we become very familiar with the noun form of the word disciple. We have the twelve disciples, the followers of Jesus. But I think that sometimes we have a tendency to forget about that verb form. Our duty as followers(disciples) of Christ is to disciple others as well. Now many of us are familiar in Matthew 28 where is talks about "go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (ESV) Sharing the Gospel with others is an extremely important duty as a Christian, but I want to touch on a facet of discipleship. And that is the part that involves other believers. This can include those who are new, baby believers, those who need encouragement in an aspect of their Christian walk, those that need accountability or those that are younger than us who need guidance.  As I really thought about this, it caused me to really wonder about how I was being a disciple in my own life. How am I using discipleship in my own walk with God? And I have come to the conclusion not near enough. As believers, who may have perhaps been so for a while, I think we have a tendency to get into this rut. We have involvement at church, perhaps weekly Bible study and such, but are we really doing those things for the benefit of body of believers or is it just for our own benefit all the time? Yes we need to continue to grow and learn but in our Christian life we are not just to be consumers of God's teaching, we are supposed to, in-turn do something with that and be givers of His teaching as well. We may be getting our weekly input from church and our daily input from our quiet time with God but at some point we have to have output. "...it is more blessed to give than to receive." Just as we may receive encouragement from others we need to do the same. We all have a unique relationship with God as born again believers and we all have something to share. A good example of Biblical discipleship is found in Titus 2:2-5: "Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children," (NIV) And also in 1 Timothy 5:1: "Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity." (NIV) These verse show that we all have something to give. Even as a single woman I can still be a disciple to younger women as sisters in Christ. I can still give encouragement to older woman with respect. Likewise men can do the same. As believers we are called to minister, admonish and encourage each other. And there comes a certain point on our walk with Christ that we need to get off the milk and get to the meat. "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." Hebrews 5:12-14 We can not stay at the same stage of continually consuming like an infant and not gaining any strength to help those around us. We have a duty to build each other and help further each  other towards God's kingdom. And we cannot do those things by hiding behind closed doors all the time. And believe me I am guilty of it. God is telling me that I have something to offer and I need to stop making excuse of why I don't have the time, resources, confidence etc....God is not limited. I believe He gives us all opportunities. And they may not come exactly like you think. And it doesn't have to be hard. Maybe it just takes a hour out of you week to meet with a member of your church who is struggling with something you have been through. Maybe it is meeting for coffee or a sandwich sometime to just talk about life. Maybe ice cream with a young person who is having a difficult time at school or at home. Maybe it is a phone call sharing a piece of Scripture that spoke to you, using your lunch break at work to talk and pray with a co-worker. Or maybe it is taking a day to really pour into someone's life. And be creative: go for a hike, go fishing, go get a massage, go serve together and volunteer at a local non-profit. But you have to choose to make discipleship a habit otherwise you will find how easily it can get swept aside in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of life. So many grandparents, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands have so much to offer to the younger generation as far as experiences and wisdom. Single people can be such an encouragement to other singles. We can all be a mentor to those younger than us and to those who are newer to the faith than us. And the kicker is...we don't have to be perfect. Now obviously we need to recognize what perhaps is not our advice to give. You don't usually have a single person giving marriage counseling to younger couples, or someone giving people advice on how to quick drugs, or alcoholism if they are still currently an addict, but you get my drift. Or maybe you just don't feel like the right person to talk about a certain topic. That is ok. Leave those things to the people who are best to mentor someone on those topics. But don't feel like just because your life isn't picture perfect that you can't disciple someone. We all still have our battles and struggles as Christians, but how we choose to work through them makes all the difference. And ultimately our duty is to point that person to Christ and not ourselves. Also being a disciple to others calls us to keep growing and digging into the Word ourselves. We have to continue to strive for and receive His wisdom if we are going to be able to pass that onto others. Discipleship doesn't suddenly make us super spiritual Christians who have all the answers. We need to continue to grow just as we are trying to help others grow as well. 

I feel as if God is asking me to take some new steps in my walk with Him and be more intentional about seeking out opportunities to disciple. And for each of us it can and will be different. The important part is to be open and willing to hear and receive the assignment God has given us. We need to pray about how we can be disciples to those around us. We need to look for opportunities in our church and in our community. And we need to make the time and do it! Life is not about just us and what we've got going on. It is about the people that God puts in our path. Let us not miss an opportunity to be an encouragement to someone or the vessel in which God speaks through to put someone back on the right track. And I believe the blessing we will receive from it will be far greater than anything time we had to take out of our schedule. We are called to be fruitful, but not to keep this fruit all to ourselves, but to share it with others. Let us be discipling souls which will do good for our own souls. 
"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." 2 Timothy 2:2 (NIV)