Discipleship Clean

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

In my opinion “cleaning” should be in the list of words your mother teaches you when you are small to never say. People should find a way to make “cleaning” and all its relatives that are verbs four letter words. Just the verbs are the ones that I have a problem with. I love the adjectives. Who doesn’t like something that is “clean?” It is the physical act of cleaning that has bothered me all my life.My previous words are not to say that I am sloppy or the epitome of all things unclean; they are to say that I am not a big fan of the necessary job of cleaning. If I had a choice to do anything I wanted to in the world, cleaning would be nowhere near the top of the list; in fact I doubt it would make the list at all. Like I said it is a necessary task that we must undertake for scores of reasons, even in our spiritual lives.As we seek to become better disciples we look to purify our lives as a whole—body, mind and spirit. We search for the components of our lives that would hinder us from becoming successful disciples. When we discover one of these hindrances in our lives it should be our goal to cleanse ourselves of it and be one step closer to having a pure heart. If we look at this verse compared to verse 7 we can see that, again, there is too much of a resemblance to not be able to say that they are connected.As disciples we are on a constant hunt for the presence of God and of all things of Him that are holy. We are hungry and thirst for His righteousness, searching for new ways to get more and more of it. As we are filled and satisfied, like Jesus promised, we begin to have our outside character match what is inside of our hearts. We do not have to keep tabs of who we are speaking with or remember what environment we are in and change our character accordingly. This is due to the fact that we have begun the transition from mere Christian whose soul has been redeemed to active disciple whose spirit longs for the relationship with Christ that comes with becoming an active practitioner of His teachings.With this transition and process of seeking after His righteousness comes the desire to live life with a purified heart. Discipleship is to live a life with no ulterior motives. There is no worrying about issues like promotion, societal status, favor, possessions, and the like because we realize those things don’t matter in the Kingdom of God. Those things have no bearing on the depth of the relationship that we have with Jesus as disciples of His teachings. All things that we need to consider as necessary in our life we realize that have been or will be given to us by God (going back to verse 5 where we inherit the earth).If we still consider those things important, then we have not fully and successfully undertaken the call to discipleship.As we seek to purify our lives of everything that hinders our discipleship walk with Christ then we will begin to see our world around us as God sees it. We will look at the people that are in our lives in any capacity (from the closest friend to the stranger that enters and exits our lives in a matter of seconds) as He would see them. Because of this we will be able to serve and love our communities as He would. Beyond that we will be able to serve and love God as He should be loved, because when our hearts are pure we will see God in everything that we affect in our lives.

Father I ask that you would direct me to anything that is in my life that is keeping me from having a pure heart. I want to see you. Amen.Father I long to be more like you with each breath I take. Help me to purify my whole self so I look and act more like you with each of those breaths. Amen.

Looking Inside Out

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)

The process of discipleship is about becoming students of Christ and practitioners of what He taught His disciples when He was here on earth. It is one thing to merely confess to be an adherent to the principles of discipleship taught in the bible and another to not only confess but also demonstrate through daily actions that you are an active believer of what you confess.Of all the parts of discipleship that I had trouble with it was mercy. I professed to believe in and ascribe to the principles of discipleship Jesus taught about. To see me in a typical day’s course of events you would have to look long and hard to see my belief in showing people mercy. If you were asked to define me by what you saw of me in that day, I would find it hard to believe that merciful would be in the top three descriptors used; in fact I doubt that it would be used in the top ten. Let’s just say I would be absolutely astounded to see it appear at all.I have struggled with mercy all my life. Where I have no problem receiving it, I did have an issue giving it. Grateful for it being given to me, I could not even understand why someone would grant it to me; even after having received mercy, in reflection had I been in their position I could not see myself acting in the same manner that they did and justify being merciful. There are times in my life that I just thought that if I showed mercy that I was preventing justice from taking place. I maintained the manner of thinking that if I showed mercy to someone I was preventing them from learning a valuable lesson in regards to consequences for their thoughts or actions. To me keeping someone from learning is to allow them to repeat the same action over and over. I took it upon myself to allow the rule and not the exception to be taught.Some people could look at this verse and say that it builds off of the principle of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That if we sow mercy to those we come in contact with that need it, then when we need mercy it will be sown into our lives. I have heard one person describe mercy (and other values) as a banking account of sorts. Every time we show mercy to someone we make a deposit into our mercy account. The more merciful we are the larger our mercy account grows. When the time comes that we need to be shown mercy we are able to reach into our account and make a withdrawal. Those who do not show mercy have no reserves to draw from and therefore cannot benefit from this principle. As it could be understood that Jesus was speaking in terms of the Golden rule here I think it is deeper than that; in saying that I don’t mean to complicate the simplicity of the statement, because it really is a simple principle.I think this verse is very nicely tied to the one that precedes it, “blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” If we search for it, we will find our fill of righteousness. That being said and accepted, then if we are filled with righteousness on the inside then everything that comes from our insides will be filled with righteousness as well. Mercy is given because it is the right thing to do. We were shown tremendous amounts of mercy through the salvation walk that Jesus took for us. Being a disciple is being an active practitioner of the teachings of our teacher. If He could so lovingly and freely show us mercy then it should be our desire to imitate Him in the truest form and give the mercy that we were so amazingly given.It was in this verse that I practically saw for the first time the litmus test for a true disciple of Christ—if a person’s inside match and is identical to their outside and what is seen can be found in Christ’s teachings in the bible, then they are true disciples. I can show mercy because it is the right thing to do or it is the “Christian” thing to do; but only when I show mercy because it is what I want to do, because it is all I know how to do will I be practicing true discipleship.

Father I thank you for your mercy—so undeserved yet so freely given. I pray Father that you would help my outside and inside look more like yours everyday. Thank you for Your faithfulness. Amen.

What I Crave

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)Air, water and food are the three subjects of the “law of 3’s” for survival—3minutes without air, 3 days without water and 3weeks without food (at least that is what I remember from CSI =) but it fits into this). Here in the Beatitude Jesus references two of our basic reactions to the lack of those essentials, hunger and thirst. When I am hungry or thirsty, neither of those two sensations are ones that I can ignore. When I have allowed myself to become hungry or thirsty, not only do I want to eat something or quench my thirst, but there is usually a craving that is associated with the desire to eat or drink to let me know that it is there. That is a key portion of this teaching—craving, longing and desire.In this teaching He is referring to righteousness. Righteousness has taken on different meanings in the Bible. I would say the most common interpretation of righteousness is the sinner’s right standing before God. I do not think that is the definition of the word righteousness He is using here. The Beatitudes are a series of one line teachings that define the character and identity of a true disciple. The word righteousness here seems to connote willingness, or desire even, to conform wholly and spiritually to the will of God for our lives. In applying 2 of our basest needs to righteousness, Jesus seems to be implying it as a need to be sought after for growth rather than as a part of our salvation. (Though I will concede that if you read the verse over in the context of righteousness referring to our right standing before God, it could be understood in that light and this argument would still remain true.)Jesus is saying in this teaching that if we will seek out righteousness we will find it. If we will crave or desire His righteousness much like we would food or drink if we were hungry or thirsty we will find it. The best part of this verse is the second part of it. Jesus doesn’t say that we will find only enough righteousness to carry us over until we find ourselves deficient again; He says we will be satisfied. We will have our fill. We will have access enough to not only tame the craving but also enough to satisfy it.Lord I thank you for not only providing for my physical needs but also for my spiritual need. I pray that my hunger and thirst for Your righteousness will never subside that I might continually seek after You. Amen.

Realizing I Already Have It All

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth." (Matthew 5:5)
This Beatitude was a little hard for me today. Meek is a hard word to define. It is one of those words that you know what it means but it is hard to find other words to describe it. At least it was for me. I looked in the Webster dictionary and the definitions there weren’t too helpful. I looked in the thesaurus and that wording helped me out quite a bit. The Webster thesaurus says meek “is not having or showing any feelings of superiority, self-assertiveness, or showiness.”It is very hard in today’s society to live a life successfully without drawing attention to yourself when you do something well. A reason that a lot of the people at work that are successful and have risen to the top rapidly is not only because they do their job well, but also because they let anyone who will listen (at least those who have influence) know that they do their job well. It is thought that those who don’t speak up are often those who get passed over for the good things like promotions. I know I have been one of those people who have been passed over. I thought I would take the high road and let my job performance and my merit speak for themselves when it came time to look for someone who would be good to take the step to the next level. It didn’t work that way. The people who were getting promoted were the ones who were in the boss' face and ear all the time speaking of how great their work was. It was irritating and definitely disheartening to see them get promoted over me since I knew my work ethic and the quality of my work was far better than theirs. I admit that I took it upon myself to be one of those people. Though I did get promoted I can honestly say that it personally hit my integrity. I didn’t feel so good when I did receive the promotion because I felt like I had to say “look at me, look what I can do” to get that promotion.“Blessed are the meek…” What does that mean? The NKJV says that these meek people will inherit the earth. The NLT calls these meek people “gentle and lowly” and it says that the whole earth will belong to them. It wasn’t until I read the Message translation that I got a glimpse as to what the verse meant. The TMNT says “You’re blessed when you are content with who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that cant be bought.”Being content with who you are is the key to this principle of discipleship. This content feeling needs to encompass you as a whole entity (physical, mental and spiritual). When we want to be something that we are not we completely miss the point of this part of Jesus’ teaching. We are basically telling the Maker that we could have done a better job in creating ourselves. When we accept ourselves as ideal in all areas of our lives then we make room in our lives to accept all that Christ has planned for us. We make time to focus on learning from His teachings instead of focusing our time and energies on improving what He has created.When I say that we should see ourselves as in a spiritual ideal position, I don’t mean to say that we should rest or remain stagnant in our discipleship ignorance; but rather we should accept (and not be ashamed of) the fact that we have not arrived in terms of biblical knowledge and the discipleship walk we have been called to. Having understood and accepted our spiritual ignorance makes it easier for us to place ourselves under submission to the One who can teach us what we need to learn.If I am content with who I am and with what I have after I have shifted my focus from trying to achieve and gain earthly possessions and recognition, then I will realize that I have all that I need and I am all that I want to be. The only way this vision of myself will change is when God calls me to change it—and then I will still be content with myself. This shift of focus from the worldly perspective of myself to the spiritual perspective of being content is what will help me see that I am “the proud owner of everything that cant be bought"—my happiness, my salvation, my relationship with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I will have inherited the earth, because everything that I have will be exactly what I need and I will be content with that.Being meek is being in a one on one, singular relationship with God. I don’t have to look to be promoted, nor do I have to look to see who is being promoted. Its just me and Him. No one else matters in this relationship and I do not have to place myself in the spectrum in comparison to anyone else in the Body of Christ or otherwise.Father help me to focus on our relationship. I want to remain content with where I am—in a position of constant learning, constant discipleship; ready to be used by you whenever and however you see fit. Amen.

Mourning Glory

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)The process of discipleship is a process of sacrifice. In this sacrifice there is a lot of us as individuals giving up things that matter to us so that we take on what matters to Christ in our lives. These things can be earthly possessions that we have accumulated over our lifetime that we have knowingly or unknowingly placed a higher value to than our relationship with Christ. These things that we are asked to sacrifice could be our hopes and dreams for our future and the outcome of our lives—plans that may not be in the plan that God has for our lives. More devastating than all these things is the possibility that we might be asked to sacrifice our relationships with people in our lives which we might have ascribed more worth to than that relationship we have with Jesus.In my discipleship walk there has been a lot of mourning. I have had to give up examples of all of these things—possessions, dreams, and people. It was a very hard action for me to undertake. It was not one of those practices that get easier with each time that I had to do it. For a period of time it was very disheartening. I would sacrifice something that God had asked for and think I was done with all I had to give up, and then he would nudge my spirit and ask for something else. It got to the point that as soon as I had sacrificed something I would turn to God and say “what do you want me to sacrifice next?” It was a hard principle for me to learn. Where is the principle, you ask?We have heard it a thousand times if we have heard it at all—our God is a jealous God. When we enter into a discipleship relationship with Jesus then we need to prepare our hearts and spirits to truly become students that are willing to learn everything that there is to be taught, not just the parts that we have room for in our lives as they are. God will ask for everything that you have placed before him, to be placed in sacrifice to Him on the altar of our hearts.When I decided to follow Christ as a disciple of His teachings I did not think that there was anything that was more important in my life that He was. I was wrong. When I was first decided to take a discipleship walk with Jesus, there were limits to what I could do. I had a more than full time job, so my time was limited. I had a very full social calendar with both friends and family so my time that I was called to serve in had to fit in there as well. When I was first called to the ministry I placed limits on what I would do for God. I absolutely hated the idea of preaching. Just could not, more like would not, do it. I loved to pray for people or give words of encouragement or and words of wisdom, but not preach. I would travel anywhere He called me to go, but I needed to come home after a short while because home was where all the people and things that made up my life were.About year after I thought I had started the disciple walk, I took some time to myself and read through the bible and how the original disciples were called and what they had to sacrifice. I looked at their lives and compared it to what I was prepared to give up. And that was when it hit me—I was prepared to give things up as a sacrifice, as if I was in a negotiation. I was willing to give some things up, not everything. Discipleship is an all or nothing calling, it is not a fast it is a sacrifice. It was this period of time that defined my decision to take the discipleship walk. I asked myself one question, “if God called me tomorrow and told me I was to move another country to minister to His people, and that would be the place where I would end my time on this earth, what are the things that would make it the hardest to go?” As I began to find the answer to that question, I began to bring those things to the altar of my heart and sacrifice them to the Lord.This was in essence the death of me as I had nurtured myself. This is where the largest part of my mourning took place. In deciding on the discipleship walk becoming a reality in my life, I had to watch my identity die as I took on the identity Christ has planned for me. I don’t write that as if I am through this process completely. This dying is a daily even minute to minute process. My mourning never stops. The good thing that comes with mourning though, is the fact that His comfort never stops either. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)Father I thank you for Holy mourning. I pray that all things th

Spiritual Poverty

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3) When I think of discipleship I can’t help but notice how much sacrifice is involved in it. As disciples we are asked to give up everything that is us and replace it with everything that God wants us to be. Some would say that the process of becoming a disciple is a process that is full of poverty. I don’t mean poverty in the sense of monetary value (although that is something that Jesus addresses as well). I mean to reference a spiritual poverty.“Blessed are the poor in spirit …” Here Jesus is saying that those who recognize their spiritual poverty will be blessed. On a daily basis we need to recognize and even celebrate our spiritual poverty. Not celebrate in the sense that we are ignorant of all things spiritual or fail to lead a spirit driven life, but celebrate in the fact that we do not know everything and need to sit at the feet of the teacher to learn from him. None of us, even the most educated and learned ones in the Kingdom of God, can say that we “have arrived” and know all there is to know about following Christ as a true disciple. Though we are called to live a life of perfection, not one of us have yet achieved such a life.Discovering that we have more to learn in the process of becoming a disciple of Christ is not a horrible thing. Again it is something that should be celebrated. Especially when we have decided to allow Christ’s teachings and the Holy Spirit to be the ones who teach us what we need to learn. It is only then that we will be filled with the true wisdom and knowledge that can only come from God. That is what I feel He means when he says “…for theirs is the Kingdom of God.” If we think of it in the perspective of being a child it seems a little clearer. A child who is learning about the world is ignorant of most things until they have been exposed to them. Until they can decipher the truth for themselves they will usually accept as truth what is being taught to them by the teacher. In fact Jesus said that no one could enter the Kingdom unless they become like a little child. Not children in the sense of physical maturity, but children in the sense of spiritual maturity—realizing that there is a lot to learn and believing what is being taught as truth.When we acknowledge the fact that we are poor in spirit, we are acknowledging the fact that there is one above us who can teach us. When we act on that knowledge and seek out the one who can teach us then we have yet again sacrificed who we are and yielded ourselves over to the submission of Christ.Thank you Father for the ability to learn as a child in your presence. I pray that you would fill me with the knowledge I need to live life as a disciple of Christ and the wisdom and strength I need to put that knowledge to use in my life. Thank you for the Kingdom of God. Amen.

The "How To" Manual

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Therefore. The Webster dictionary defines the word this way: adverb. 1a: for that reason: CONSEQUENTLY b: because of that c: on that ground 2: to that end.” The word is used to make a final conclusion after a case or the supporting information for a point has been made. When you use a word like that there is no real way that you can take what follows it except as the truth. Or even as a command. Everything that has preceded the word has all led up to this final summation. Therefore! That final verse in the fifth chapter in Matthew is no different. Jesus uses the word “therefore” three times in this particular chapter. The first two uses are in the telling of parables. The final use is in the last verse. Jesus has spent the previous forty five verses teaching His disciples closest to Him that had climbed the mountainside with Him and those in the multitude that had gathered to hear him teach. It doesn’t say “shall you be perfect, just like your Father in heaven?” Jesus didn’t pose it as a question. It is not a suggestion. Nor is it something casually said in the passing conversation between friends. Jesus had spent His time teaching on the characteristics that would identify someone as one of his followers—as His disciple. He had taught them what they would need to look like to the world and be like if they were to be his true followers. Why though would He set such a lofty ideal for us to be modeled after? If He knows our human nature, why would He call us to a lifestyle that is a nature far beyond what we are capable of? Therein lays the beauty of this chapter. He has called us to work to change our nature. He has called us to be His disciples—followers of His examples, students of His teachings. He spends the time making His case about the identity we should be working towards and working on becoming, then ends with the “therefore”—we should be perfect (take on the identity He has laid out) just like our Father in heaven is perfect. In essence we are children of the King. We need to live like we are part of the family.Wouldn't it be great if there was a handbook or a user's manual for discipleship. I have looked and looked throughout the Bible and I cannot find a "how to" guide for discipleship. The closest that I have found is the perfection identity that Jesus talked about. Perfection identity? Where is that. Jesus describes the identity of a disiciple in the sermon on the mount. That is my interpretation. He starts out describing those that are blessed and ends with "therefore you shall be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." My next few posts will be on this identity I have found in the beatitudes.Father I pray that you will open my eyes to see what a true Disciple of your Son Jesus is. Give me the strength to fashion my life to be closer to Your image. Amen.

It Starts On the Inside

Discipleship was nothing like I thought it would be. Growing up in the church I took the notion that discipleship wasn’t much more that living a good life and being a good person. Being a good person meant going to church when there was a service, not drinking, not smoking, and living a life publicly that you would not be embarrassed to have someone see. Discipleship is so much more than that. I am learning that discipleship is more that living a good life. It’s more than living a life publicly. In fact discipleship has a lot more to do with life lived privately than anything else. It is a personal relationship to the Father and with Jesus Christ that overflows into our public life. This reminds me of Luke 18:10-14NKJV. 10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” The Pharisee (a member of the religious elite) was living his life publicly and made sure that everyone had noticed all of the good things he was doing. He wanted people to know why he should be thought of as better than them. The tax collector (which was considered to be a dishonorable occupation) was exactly the opposite. He approached the temple in a humble manner. He had an inner experience. His communication with God came from his heart. He wasn’t looking to see who could see him or who could hear him. That experience was just between him and God. That is what each of our discipleship experiences need to be-just between us and God. While there are community roads that we need to walk in our discipleship journey, our own journey is specific to our individual lives. Of the two men in the temple that day, the tax collector was the one who went home justified before God. Jesus said whoever humbles himself will be exalted. That is what discipleship is: the act of humbling oneself before God; acknowledging God and His desires for the purpose of our lives. Discipleship isn’t a lifestyle that we live through-it is more of an identity that we have adopted after we have given our own sense of self identity up.Lord I thank you for showing me the areas in my life that I still need to humble before you. I want to live a life humbled before you in private and not one where I try and be a good person in public. I know as I submit myself to your will and word that private life will overflow into the way I am seen in public. May my life bring glory to your name. Amen.

Looking Through His Eyes

Have you ever gone to buy a gift and as you were making the selection thought of the worthiness of the person you were buying it for? Or have you ever received a request for help and you just knew the person receiving the help wasn’t deserving of the energy. Then there is the homeless person we have all seen on the corners of streets everywhere who ask us for money, I am sure some of us have been reluctant (to say the least) to open our wallets because we just knew he was going to spend our hard earned money on alcohol or drugs.To take it to the church I am sure some of us have even wondered how some people deserve to be healed or saved when we know the kind of life they have led. We also know that they are more than likely going to stray back into that life once they have been blessed, helped, saved, or healed. And if it was up to us, they surely wouldn’t be the recipients of anything good when there are so many more in this world who are more deserving.When did it become ok for us to make judgments on a person’s worthiness or deservingness of help or charity? When were placed in charge of discerning who was worthy of something, that we are oftentimes not worthy of receiving. Who are we to withhold Jesus’ charity or demonstration of his love? Some would say that if only he knew, he would understand. I tell you he does know and he does understand.Often when Jesus was faced with the large multitudes who demanded his attention he would sit and minister to them. And in looking through the accounts of Jesus’ life, I have yet to find the place where it says that he separated the crowd into the worthy group and the unworthy group. Where we think we have the ability to profile someone and know what they will do with our charity, Jesus actually did have the ability to not only see the person in front of him, but to also know what they had done in their past and what they would do in their future (he was God after all). If humanity was still the same wicked flesh it is today, don’t you think that there were people who would take the blessings Jesus had for them for granted. Don’t you think there were people who would walk away healed who didn’t even offer as much as a thank you to the one who healed them? There had to be people who were delivered from bondage who went right back to the activities that got them bound in the first place. The hard part for some of us to understand is that Jesus knew this about people and still ministered and blessed them anyway. Jesus did it for one reason and one reason only—He loved the people.He really saw the people as the flock of sheep without a shepherd and served as that shepherd. The one that cared for each sheep, knew them each by name, and longed to protect and care for each one. He loved the people for who they were, where they came from. Each one was special to Him.It’s hard for me, even where I am today, to think of loving everyone like that. The kind of love that Jesus had for the people (good or bad) was unconditional. It was the kind of love that would eventually lead him to the cross to die for a people that were completely undeserving of the gift he gave. It means looking at the outcasts of society and asking what can I do to help as opposed to wondering what they did to get there. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I want to be more like the shepherd I follow every day. I am ready to see people like he sees them and to love them like he loves them.Father help to see people the way you see them and help me to love them with the same kind of love that you love me with. In your name Jesus I pray. Amen

The First Empty Vessel Thought

I have been doing a lot of thinking and studying on the topic of discipleship. I have been reading, talking to people and gathering a lot of different views and definitions of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. I am the kind of person that absorbs as much information as I possibly can. While I absorb a lot of information I also need to let some out so I can really understand what I have taken in. One of the best ways for me to let that information out is to write it down, so I don't lose anything and I can pick the thought up whenever I need or want to. What better way to record my thoughts than to start a blog. Not only can I access my thoughts but others can too and they can leave comments to help further or expand my thought process.When I learn something new I really like to learn it for the first time. Even if I already know something about the subject, I approach the learning as if I have never heard of the subject. When I approached the subject of discipleship, I thought of it as being an empty vessel waiting to be filled up with the true meaning of discipleship. As I have gotten deeper into the subject of discipleship, I see that the life of a disciple is congruent with the metaphor of being an empty vessel. A disciple is someone who empties him/herself of everything that they want for themselves and long to be filled up with everything that God has for them. Thanks for reading and for joining me on my journey towards becoming an empty vessel disciple.