- We can say that Jesus is our Savior; but anything or anyone else that receives more of our attention than loving and serving Christ displaces Him from His rightful place as Lord of our lives.
A friend once informed me, “we are all being discipled.”
It depends on how one defines “discipled.” If we take as our model Jesus with the Twelve, the answer is clear. Not many of us have an intense, intentional and fruitful relationship with another, more mature Christian for the purpose of growing substantially in our faith. But before I could object, my friend made an addendum that completely changed my reaction: “We may be getting discipled by the Lord and His Church or by the world and it’s crooked perspective, but one way or the other, we are all getting discipled.”
Upon reflection that is, actually, profound.
The book of Micah (4:5) contains these lines: “For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”
In Micah’s day, the people of Yahweh were sorely tempted to hedge their bets and follow other gods, too…just to be on the safe side. Because of their desire for good crops, rain, and even political expediency with the surrounding nations, why not give Yahweh attention, but also diversify for safety’s sake with homage to, for instance, Baal, the fertility god of the Canaanites; or the fertility goddess Asherah or Astoreth – the goddesss of fertility, sexuality and war?
Diversify they did. They were no longer discipled exclusively by Yahweh through His prophets and priests. Instead, the message of the holy God was diluted by Canaanite values of eroticism, dominance, comfort, aggression and power. What a contrast to the ways of Yahweh! “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).
Other kinds of discipleship can creep in on us unawares, too. Fifty years ago I was a nationally-ranked discus thrower for the University of Kansas. My Mom gave me a “Throwing for Jesus” t-shirt, which I wore to competitions. But the better I got at the discus throw, the more it seemed to monopolize my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual attention. I quit wearing that shirt because I knew that whatever I was doing, I was hardly throwing for Him.
I was being primarily discipled by the sports world.
After struggling with that dichotomy for the next few years, I had a rather dramatic encounter with the Lord. He asked for His heart (my heart) back. He wanted to be my sole discipler: not sports, or the dating world, or academics, or anything…besides Him. I acquiesced to His challenge for my life; while those aspects were still present, they were submitted to the Lordship of Christ. After that, the appeal of sports sort of ebbed away.
Professing Christians today must deal with that same enticement. We confess Christ but we give the greater time and attention to (fill in your own blank, here) – be it our favorite teams, the career ladder, our hobbies, our investments, our politics.
So many things that can distract.
And all too often those competing priorities stunt our spiritual growth. We can say that Jesus is our Savior; but anything or anyone else that receives more of our attention than loving and serving Christ displaces Him from His rightful place as Lord of our lives.
We are all in discipleship relationships today. Who or what is shaping your life?
Matt Friedeman
