Discipleship is Intentional, Not Accidental

Discipleship is not something we merely stumble upon, accidentally...  Or like we wake up one day to be happily surprised that we somehow – inexplicably – resemble Christ!  No, discipleship is a process that requires daily exercise.  It is a constant practice that results – over time in cooperation with the Spirit – in maturity.  In today's episode, we will look at one Biblical example of this...

Transcript

Discipleship is not something we merely stumble upon, accidentally...  Or like we wake up one day to be happily surprised that we somehow – inexplicably – resemble Christ!  No, discipleship is a process that requires daily exercise.  It is a constant practice that results – over time in cooperation with the Spirit – in maturity.

Let’s consider a Biblical example together.  Noah was the man who faithfully obeyed God’s bizarre call to construct a giant boat in the middle of a field in the Book of Genesis.  When we are first introduced to him, we discover that Noah is already well into the latter years of his life.  So what about the first 2/3 of Noah’s life?  What does the Bible tell us about those years?

Well, in just a few simple sentences, the Scriptures actually summarize Noah’s life quite excellently.  The first mention of Noah is in Genesis 6:8, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord… [Noah] was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.”  Then throughout Genesis chapters 6 and 7, as God instructs Noah about building the ark, the Bible repeatedly states, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”

So, what does this have to do with following Jesus?  Well, the root word for “disciple” and “discipleship” is the word “discipline”.  Following Christ requires discipline.  It requires willful self-control and self-direction.

Even though Noah did not know Jesus as the disciples did – or even as we do today – the Bible says that Noah “walked faithfully with God”.  Noah is an inspiration for me in my own journey of discipleship!  That the latter years of my life, I might be described as “a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries, who did everything just as God commanded him.”

Noah is one of many Biblical examples who shows us that following Jesus is an active, present-tense, ongoing state of being.  It is a willful lifelong decision that we must rekindle every day - and sometimes every moment – on a choice-by-choice and experience-by-experience basis.

We do not get to see the particulars of Noah’s younger years, and we can tell from his final years that Noah was far from perfect.  But the sum total of his life was that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God”.

What is one intentional thing you are doing that is fueling your growth in Christ?  I’d love to hear your examples and share them here!  Email your thoughts to PracticalFaith@LikeTreesPlanted.com.