I am so glad that I got such a similar response from all of you. I regret and am slightly ashamed to share with you my feelings on the subject because they are feelings more from the past than the present. Once again please keep in mind my infancy in my walk with God. I have a very hard time calling myself a Christian. I have had so many poor experiences with others who have and I am ashamed to be a part of that. As I write this I think that it's more like disgust. In the same breath I am ashamed to say that because I feel like maybe I'm turning from Jesus a bit. Isn't it amazing the power of one word. After being a fireman for a number of years I have classified them into two groups. You start out with the Hero who is the guy wearing the tight shirt to show off his muscles. He makes sure that he has the perfect image and that he gets in front of the camera as often as possible. He is easy to find because he makes himself visible as such and probably shaves his arms. If you look closely behind that man there will be a man/woman covered in dirt and soot. They smell, are exhausted, filthy, and have hair on their arms. These folks are the ones training and caring for the equipment while the heros lift weights and watch TV while gossipping amongst each other about all of the things wrong with the dept. and the world. The second group are the firemen. In a way, that I need to spend some time asking God to change my heart on, that is how I look at the difference between a Christian and a Disciple.
For those of you that have spent time with me and know me I would hope that I come across as a disciple to you because that is the man of God that I wish to be. If not then it is your duty to call me on it! Put my feet to the fire!!! Please don't stand by while I am stagnant. Don't let me become luke warm.
Father I pray that you light a fire in my heart and the hearts of all the people reading this now. I pray that we seek your heart with all of ours and that we don't ever stop saying no to you. When it gets hard I pray that we seek you Father and when it is easy I pray that we pursue you even more and never become lax in our love and commitment to you God. Show us how to disciple and make burn with desire to be just that. Thank you Father for your grace on us. Amen
8 comments:
You've got to stop putting up the disclaimer that you're a new Christian. You think more deeply about these issues than some Christians who've been such for ages.
I don't see you first hand, but judging by your writing, I don't think that stagnating is an issue just yet.!
Apologies for being MIA. The limbo I wrote about has ended and now all is hectic. I'll put up a post to explain later.
wow, caleb. reading your story here, i can totally see why you would classify 'christian' and 'disciple' as two different things. but the more i think about it, the more i think maybe they aren't actually different. maybe your experience of them is different, which is so awful, but your deep heart wishes they weren't? i don't know . . . i don't want to put words in your mouth, obviously.
i'm sorry for your experiences. i have seen firsthand what you're talking about with the firemen. that was a really great analogy to help us understand your meaning.
I think you're right. I think that you can be a christian without being a disciple, and you can be a disciple without being a christian. Everyone's a disciple of something, and not all christians are disciples of Christ... But I think the fact that we even have to be asking this question of the church is jacked up... I think that's where the real problem is.
What if the church were the school system, or the justice system. Those have problems too, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable for the problems to perpetuate.
Maybe the next question the church is asked should be, "What does (or should) being a disciple of Christ look like in your life and who are you, in turn, discipling?"
I think you and I get that question a lot in our community, but our church is a rarity and most people don't have a slot for that kind of accountability.
Good stuff, friend..
1st off bro...luke warm you are not. But as with most things there will always be up next to down, consolation near desolation, and so on. There is a rhythm I can only pray you will discern and enjoy.
One of the fun parts of church is that you participate with an active God. How will you respond to His love through the act of worship that is your life? All churches are broken…because they are made of broken people. And God will use it all for His glory. It isn’t that he needs any one of us to pursue His divine ends, but He wants us.
Grace my friend. As God has offered it to us we should extend it to one another…the vain, prideful, lazy sinners - not unlike ourselves. Truth be told, I am often a train wreck in this department. We find ourselves responsible for our own spiritual well being…and at some time, may that include words like disciple and Christian.
keep on truckin’
Good stuff Caleb. It sounds as if you are asking wonderful questions, which will unfold in excellent answers to your walk with Christ & his church.
Are you a reader? Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship" & "Life Together" are outstanding. Both books, & his life as a disciple, have shaped me. If my last name wasn't so Scottish I'd name my boy Dietrich. However, Dietrich McMasters doesn't work.
Who wins the race, the tortoise or the hare?
Dean- Thank you for the vote of confidence. I can only say that I think the way that I do because of the community around me that pursues Jesus fiercely and God just flat out loves me! I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around that. No worries on the MIA issue. Life happens and I just feel blessed every time that I hear from you. Take care my friend.
Christianne- My heart is softening to the word Christian and forgiveness from our Father is creeping in on it for those who have abused the title. I don't have any sorrow for the experiences that I have had with themin the past because I know that God has a plan for me and those experiences will be used in that plan. I agree that being a disciple of Jesus and Christian should go hand in hand and my heart hurts for those who aren't pursueing that. Be blessed my east coast friend.
Jessica- In a nutshell you rock! I should have tied "of Jesus" into "being a disciple". I hope that we can all give ourselves a real strong gut check on if we are truly pursuing being a disciple of Jesus and making disciples. I'm so glad that you added that to your comment. We are commanded to make disciples of the nations and if we don't then we aren't even being disciples ourselves. So, preach it girl!
Dave- once again you honor me. Thank you. I look forward to the tides of my walk with God and look forward to our discussions as that happens. I realize where my heart should be with God and the people of the church as well as our secular brothers and sisters but I am stubborn. This is a lousy excuse and one that I am working hard to break my heart of. Please feel free to point it out to me if you see me being anything other than Christ like...within my human limits. Thank you for your blog that helped bring some clarity as well.
Sean- I feel so blessed to see your name here. Thank you for the support and I look forward to getting to know you better through our blogs. Thank you for the book titles. I will add them to the list. I'm reading The Shack as we speak and Nan has at least another half dozen stacked up for me. I'm sure that you know the feeling. Be blessed brother.
here i am, friend. late to the party again.
like i told you this morning: i know you're not perfect & i will say that i'm someone who probably gets it wrong more than i get it right. but what's great caleb is that you are so mindful of it, you are open to God molding you.
and that is amazing.
Kirsten- is this you trying to be "fashionably late"? I'm glad that you stopped in. I know that you are so busy so often and that you took time away from the sun today to do so and that makes it mean that much more. I feel so blessed that we get to share in this imperfect walk together.
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