Today Has Been a Good Day for Thinking!
My early-morning blogging session kind of set the tone for the rest of the day. I got to my office and discovered that my secretary had a doctor’s appointment. We’re in the middle of changing phone companies, so the phone’s not ringing a whole lot. The maintenance crew did their usual Friday gig on Thursday for some reason. So, I put some Charlie Hall and David Crowder in the old CD player, ground some Komodo Dragon for the coffeemaker, and had a great, uninterrupted! day of thinking, praying, and studying.
Besides working on Sunday’s talk (finishing my “Real Reality” series, “What Not to Wear,” based on Ephesians 6:10-18, here are some things that crossed my mind, entered my heart, and made their way into the Moleskine. (No certain order, just random, may develop them more later.)
�Peter Pan� Christians: What do you do with believers who refuse to grow up?
Loving God with all that I am: PASSION, PRAYER, INTELLIGENCE, ENERGY, according to Mark 12:28-34.
What was it about Jesus that made Him such a magnetic, compelling leader? What made His disciples � especially the early ones � follow Him without prior knowledge?
– The testimony of John the Baptist. They were already following John � and he pointed Jesus out to them.
– Their own curiosity. If John said such amazing things about Jesus, what did he mean?
– Jesus� call to follow. �Come, follow me.� �See for yourselves.�
– Spending time with Him.
– The promise of a new kind of life. Not necessarily an easier life. A life that would require a new set of skills and a willingness to learn. �Fishing was their regular work.� Their new life would be �kind of like� the old life, but different.
Leading those who are someone else�s followers. (Thanks to Todd Hunter, from some un-updated blog somewhere on the Web! Just kidding…!)
If believers are to be disciples following Jesus � and I�m called to lead them, how do I do that? It�s not me they�re called to follow ULTIMATELY! It�s HIM! But I�m supposed to be the guy who points Him out to them, like John the Baptist!