Discipleship blog #1
Here are a few thoughts concerning discipleship whilst I am leading a Pais ‘Talmidim Academy’
James Chapter 1
So today I started a short Talmidim Academy.
The Talmidim Academy is where I take a few Pais leaders away to spend time with them. Talmidim is the Hebrew word for disciples and the aim of this week is for them to discover true discipleship which goes beyond education and becomes an experience. So they wake up when I normally do, they pray when I do, eat when I do and generally follow my normal routine. I teach them about discipleship in the morning and in the afternoons and evenings they work on projects that I am currently working on plus do the kind of recreational activities that I do depending on what is around.
The people who come on the academy are nominated by others. So this week I have a bit of a mixed group, unlike the other times, these guys don’t know each other or me very well. They are younger in both their walk and their experience on Pais.
As I look at the book of James, the first chapter seems to have a key right in the center of it, it talks of those who are “Loyally in love with God” in verse 12.
Discipleship meets lots of challenges. The pressure of being on someone else’s agenda can bring tension into our lives. Good tension. Tension that leads to creativity.
Verses 3-4 say; “You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely.”
That reminds me of all those disciples who left Jesus when they felt pressurized. Even His teaching brought to much tension to their life. They struggled to even understand it and walked away. Such a shame!
It reminds me of the story of the guy who collected moths. One day he came across an imperial moth – the kind he needed for his collection. It was struggling to break free from its cocoon and looked like I might die. The man became worried, even impatient and so took some scissors and cut a slice of the cocoon so the moth could break out. It did but then struggled to move. The difficult process of pushing and forcing its way out, creates the strength in its muscles and so when the collector ‘freed’ it, he actually stopped it building the strength it needed to live fully once it got out of the cocoon.
It escaped but was permanently crippled.
Discipleship is a process of disciplining yourself to the disciplines of another in order to become like them. Something rarely valued. But I hope and pray that this group of academy delegates understand the wisdom of the following words when thinking of the process they are in;
“Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate.” verse 4 & 12.
I guess we will see.
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