DISCIPLESHIP

When Jesus left Earth, he instructed his followers to "go and make disciples of all nations." He wanted the story of his great love for all people to be told around the world. The act of doing this, of making disciples, is discipleship.

The real question is, how is this done?

A wise man once talk me that discipleship is teaching somebody how to do something until they are ready to go and teach someone else. That degree of teaching takes commitment, patience and the existence of a genuine love for another person. You have to forgive the failures that come with learning and endure the pain of watching someone you care about struggle.

Others have said that discipleship is pouring yourself and your life into the life of another person. This picture of one cup pouring into a second cup out of its excess is truthful but in some ways lacking.  The reality of discipleship is not meant to be this tidy or unidirectional.

Perhaps a better picture is one of  two cups, both filled to varying degrees, bumping into one another so that a portion of the water from one cup calls into the other.  Water inevitably spills in the process and not all the water that was intended for the other cups sticks. This is discipleship.

In this age of independence and self sufficiency, we must constantly look for opportunities to share our cup and our lives (2 Thes 2:8) with others.  The end result is the blessing of catching the overflow from the cup of another and giving away what God has provided to us.

A life of discipleship, one that is emptied our of the overflow from within must see to it that measures are taken to be continually refilled.

last edited: ddb 11/17/12