Continued Preparation To Meet Jesus, As “The Disciple”
“The Disciple” I am speaking of is me, and it is you. On day 1, the question to ponder was: Have I made myself available to Christ, to become like Him? Jesus said in Luke 6:40b, “everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher”. If we do not make ourselves available to Him, how can we become perfectly trained by Him”
Day 2 was a call to “resolve”, to set our minds and hearts toward following, listening and learning from The Teacher. It was a call to set our attention and accept the need for improvement. Think about whatever captures, controls or consumes your mind and heart, to the point of un-attentive behavior toward The Teacher. Yes, we all have families, homes to take care of, jobs and responsibilities. But nothing is more important than The Teacher. He should be our Master. Is there something, someone, an attitude, an action or habit that we need to call into submission, to The Teacher. “A disciple is not above his teacher.” Luke 6:40a
In Matthew 19:16-30, we read about “The Rich Young Man”. This young man had every “thing” he could possibly want. He had obeyed the commandments Jesus spoke of in verses 18-19. But Jesus asked him to give up all his “things” that captured his attention, the attention he should have been giving to The Teacher. I need to tell you right here, that I cannot explain away what Jesus told this young man to do, so that he might have treasure in heaven (verse 21). I think that each one of us has to answer to God for those “things” that distract our attention from Him. What I do know is that in verse 29, Jesus tells the disciples that “anyone who has given up “things” (whatever He tells each one of us personally to give up), for His Sake, will inherit eternal life”. Was Jesus asking this young man, How Much Do You Love Me? To What Extent Do You Love Me? I think that if we are going to learn from The Teacher, we need to answer these questions ourselves.
The thought to ponder on Day 2 was, “To be the constant attendant of Christ”. What does it mean to attend? “It means to pay attention to; take charge of; to go or stay with as a companion, servant; to be present with: accompany; to apply oneself; to apply the mind or pay attention: heed; to be ready for service<ministers who attend upon the king>to be present with; to direct ones attention; to be an attender.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Today, make preparations to follow, listen and learn from The Teacher. Ask yourself, is my life in order, in order to make myself available to Him? Am I ready to be His “attender”? Think about the conversation between Jesus and the rich young man again. This time, think about how Jesus teaches us through the conversations he has with those he comes into contact with. Here is where we will learn our lessons, and in the conversations we have with Him personally.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 10:25 pm and is filed under Bible Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
