Pondering Point

The words of Jesus here were shared in anticipation of His disciples heading out into the mission field on a short-term trip. Later in ministry for these same disciples, Jesus shares directions with them for a long-term trip – the trip of a lifetime. Those words are found in Matthew 28:19-20 where He tells them to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing the next wave of disciples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus had taught His first disciples.

At times Jesus sets up short-term discipling trips for us too. Day trips; brief encounters with people; a task here; a conversation there. But the meat of our lives as disciples is better recognized as a long-term trip, that trip of a life-time mentioned earlier. As you 'go' about life as a follower of Jesus, is living as His disciple (living for God and His purposes) a primary goal or a secondary goal? While the Apostle Paul was a professional tentmaker, it is unlikely he defined himself primarily as such, but rather as an apostle. As we bring to mind the original disciples, most of us probably think of Peter, James and John firstly as disciples and secondly as fisherman.

Do you see yourself first and foremost as a disciple regardless of what roles you embrace (worker, spouse, friend)? Or is your mentality the reverse – "I'm a worker," "I'm a spouse" who happens to also be a disciple? The kingdom message deserves a kingdom orientation. The following prayer gets at that mindset.