A slow roll..

Discipleship is a buzzword these days.  If there is ever a word that should be a permanent buzzword it is "discipleship."   As I sit here, I can look at my book shelf and see many books on the subject.  I remember when I bought those books with the deep hope that maybe, just maybe, this one will make the light come on and be the spark to make disciples.

The more I read about the original disciples and their relationship with Jesus, I see that it was one of challenge, followed by exercise, then some discussion, followed by challenge, exercise, then discussion, and so on.  Then when it mattered most, when Jesus had been seized by the venomous crowd with an assortment of weapons, and taken to the Sanhedrin, the disciples are nowhere to be found and not claiming Jesus as a man they knew.  

Would this be a discipleship success story?  I'm pretty sure it isn't. But God continues to give them and us opportunities to be His disciples.

Discipleship, by observation, seems to have a slow roll.  Hold on impatient 21st century consumer culture.  Should discipleship be something that happens instantaneously like a microwave hot pocket?  To be a disciple means to go against everything that your body and mind desire.  Is there any other place in the world where that actually happens?  It's a slow roll, but when it gets up to speed and you have the gigantic momentum of disciples completely sold out to love Jesus in every way possible, it is unstoppable, and more than that, adversaries hesitate to get in the way of something that large.

Hence, my friends, we have the book of Acts to show us how chaotic, scary, amazing, and joyful a scene like that is.

I'm thankful that I am still figuring it out.  I'm thankful that, today, I have more opportunities to be a disciple.  I'm thankful that even though I haven't gotten it figured out, He still wants to use me.