Discipleship

Tonight, I was going to originally write on "In-N-Out" Evangelism and about Bobby Blakey's, the high school pastor at my church, message but after an encouraging talk with a great friend and someone who is in some sense discipling me for a little bit I thought I would dedicate this blog to discipleship and how crucial it is to the life of every believer.

If you are serious about your Christian walk and your spiritual growth then you NEED to be discipled and if possible discipling someone. I have been discipled 3 times and have discipled someone one time and it is during these times of discipleship and accountability that I have found that I have been the most solid in my faith and grounded in the Truth(speaking of Truth read the Truth War by Dr. MacArthur I am almost done and it is amazing!)

Now we are all disciples of Christ but we also need to be disciples of other godly men in our lives. Like how Timothy was discipled by Paul so we too need to find godly, older spiritual examples in our lives to take us under their wings in some sense and help impart wisdom to us. I have been in proverbs lately(proverb of the day!) and it talks about gaining wisdom and how important wisdom and understanding is and through discipleship you can gain wisdom for the one discipling you has experienced the trials and temptations that you are encountering and he/she conqeured them so he/she can help you overcome them in a way that is consistent with the Bible and Christ's teachings.

Being discipled is pivotal to your spiritual growth for we all need examples to follow and help from those wiser than us. When being discipled you are able to look at the life of whoever is discipling you and see how they deal with problems you face and how they conquer them. Also, being discipled keeps you accountable which is necessary for proper spiritual growth. Furthermore, whoever disciples you can provide you with encouragement and teaching just how Paul encouraged and exhorted Timothy.

Now another crucial part is discipling others. If you are able to disciple others I would highly encourage you to do so. During my one year of discipling my friend I grew more spiritually that year than I had grown in previous years of my life. Discipling is a two-way street for though I was able to help teach and show my friend how Christians are supposed to live I was also held to a much higher standard. I was now an example to him and he would follow my life and my actions. Now longer, could I toy around with sin or wicked temptations for now my sinning no longer just affected me but it affected my friend who I was discipling. He was looking to my life as an example as to how to live his and so I had to make sure that my life was worthy of being an example so that I would not be someone who would lead him astray or say one thing and do another. It truly was a great time of spiritual growth for me and my friend. The best part about discipling someone is its not that hard to know how to do it because in reality all you really have to do is be like Christ. There is no crazy trick or 10 step method. What you are called to do is just be Christ-like and live in a manner worthy of His calling.

So in conclusion, if you are not being discipled, find someone who is a spiritual leader and an example to you and ask them to disciple you, 99% of the time they will love to do it! So do it, be discipled and if possible disciple someone and above all become more Christ-like.