3 min. read
Want to be an apprentice of Jesus? Sacramental living is what it is all about.
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Consider this an invitation to enlarge your entire spiritual formation process. But first let’s do away with a common misconception.
This Is Not About Evangelism
Yes, we do want people to know the Good News. We want them to hear the Good News. But the truth is people will be drawn to where they see the Good News in action, made real by the way people live.
It seems that the best things in life never come easy.
Being a preacher myself I believe firmly in the spoken Word preached.
So as we try to become apprentices of Jesus let’s not make this about saving people. Leave all of the results to God. His Spirit is going before us.
This Is About Relationships
Relationships require sacrifice of time, space, and convenience. Relationships are certainly not easy.
I’ve often imagine how Jesus related to the 12 that he chose as his disciples and the other followers that went with them. He must’ve been aggravated at times. He must’ve been disappointed at times. It’s clear from what is recorded in Scripture that these things did in fact occur. And yet he stuck it out with them. He didn’t leave them. He didn’t give up on them. He didn’t try to find replacements for them. He didn’t shut them out of his life. Rather he let their lives inconvenience him.
When we enter into relationships this way, for the long haul, we will begin to know what it means to be an apprentice of Jesus. It’s only when we share our time and our space and a convenience with others that we begin to know what the Christian life is about. There is no isolated Christianity. And that means that the process of being an apprentice of Jesus is messy … very messy.
So does this mean that relationships need to be top priority for us?
Well, This Isn’t About Priorities
It would be a lot easier if we could say God is our first priority, families are second priority, relationships are third priority, and so forth. But being an apprentice of Jesus has nothing to do with priorities. Instead, it has everything to do with letting the God lifestyle surround and consume and infiltrate every part of our existence.
Only in this way can we look at sharing time with others as discipleship. Only in this way can we look at sharing space with others as discipleship. Only in this way can our inconveniences become convenient times and spaces and opportunities to make disciples.
But what if we are rejected? The results are not up to us. The spirit is going before us, coming after us, and we must trust God to do what only God can do.
To be an apprentice of Jesus means to simply be faithful in all aspects of life in community with others.
So Tell Me Something
What does your apprenticeship to Jesus look like?