I turned around, and there she was—following me down the path. She stepped where I stepped, slowed down when I slowed down, and tried to keep up the best her little legs would allow her. It was just another walk together around the path at our home. What started as a chore (walking our dog) revealed yet another weighty reminder: my kids are constantly watching us. We, as parents, are modeling “normal” life (whatever that means) for our kids. They have an innate disposition to follow a model.

As I continued to ruminate on that walk and how my daughter followed me, I was struck by Jesus’ call to “come and follow me.” He gives this call numerous times throughout the gospel accounts. Later on, His disciples are called His “followers”. It seems at the core of what Jesus was calling people to was followership. Something we have come to call discipleship in the modern church. Discipleship is the state of being a disciple – a follower of Jesus. But what does it look like?

True discipleship is so much more, and it is made up almost entirely of non-Instagrammable moments.

Melissa Edgington

Much ink has been spilled over the term “discipleship”. Authors have written tomes about what it is and how to do it. Churches formalize it (not altogether bad) and people practice it. But all too often, discipleship gets boiled down to a program, set of courses, lessons to learn, or habits to do. Melissa Edgington addresses this reality in her article, “I Searched for the Key to Discipleship.” Her observations, tensions, and conclusions are insightful. She writes as one who is living in reality, but recognizing the beauty amid the chaos.

READ THE ARTICLE

So many people who come to see Jesus for who He is – the Lord of all creation and Savior for any who would come to Him – are looking for a model to follow. Like my daughter, they want footsteps to follow, an example in front of them, a picture of what it looks like to live out Jesus’ call to “come and follow me”. That is where those of us who call ourselves Jesus followers, need to step in. We need to, like Paul, call others to follow us as we follow Christ. The question is what does that look like in our 21st Century world. Where do we see Jesus portrayed in others around us? And where can we portray Jesus to others?

As always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day.
Until Next Time…