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When our son Hunter turned 16, we expected him to do what all 16 year olds do – beg to get their license and drive.
When I was a kid, that meant something. It was a coming of age, a responsibility, it was something to be proud of. Shaun was the same. Having a license was just part of growing up, becoming an adult.
It was just unheard of to not want your license.
But here we were. A 16 year old kid who had no desire to drive. He had friends who drove, he was with us a lot of the time, so he just didn’t feel the need. Someone else would have the responsibility to get him where he needed to go.
Luke 114:34-35
“Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
In the previous verses, Jesus was speaking to the large crowd who had been following Him. He was explaining the cost of discipleship, what it really meant to not only follow Jesus, but to teach others to do the same.
He concludes with these two verses, of which discipleship is still the context.
His point – if you choose to follow Jesus, you are His disciple. If you are His disciple, then you will become a disciple-maker. You will look like Jesus, act like Him, talk like Him, teach all that He has taught you. To not do that, would be unheard of. As He puts it, that person would be useless.
A friend of mine, who I believe has been extremely successful in disciple-making, said the way he was taught, it wasn’t an option. If you were a Christian, a follower of Jesus, you also were a disciple-maker. To sit on the sidelines and let others do it, but you didn’t, well, it just isn’t done. It is part of being a disciple of Christ.
I hear the questions, the excuses already forming in your mind.
I can’t disciple someone.
I don’t know enough.
I was never discipled, so I don’t know how.
I’m not gifted in teaching.
I don’t know what to say.
What if I lead them in the wrong way or say the wrong thing?
Someone else will do it.
That’s not my job.
Have we lost our saltiness? The very purpose we were created for, commissioned to do, and yet, we don’t.
I get it. I’ve said all those excuses before too. But let me remind you, they are simply that – excuses.
To be a Christian means you are a disciple of Christ. And to be a disciple of Christ means you are to be a disciple-maker. Let me help you. Let me show you how.
You can do it.
Christ wouldn’t give us a task without supplying all that we need in order to accomplish it.
Discipleship allows you to share what you’ve learned, but it’s amazing what God shows you in the process. There have been times where a young lady points something out and I say, “wow I’ve never thought of it that way!” You don’t have to know it all. You just have to be obedient.
Let’s get salty.
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