Discipleship in the Here and Now

Wherever you’re at today, God has something for you–some leading, some truth to be revealed and encountered and discovered, some way that his love will bleed through into your life.  Wherever you’re at, God is inviting you to grow as a disciple of Christ.

Expect it.  The Apostle Paul wrote that while we must seek God, God is in fact “not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).  God is the God of the universe, the creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And yet, God is the one in whom we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  He knows the number of hairs on our head and the path for our feet (Matthew 10:30; Psalm 139:3).

So while walking with God will always move us in the direction of Jesus, shaping us in Jesus’ life, apprenticing us to Jesus’ teaching and ways, discipleship will also always be intensely personal.  We will experience our walk with God as him and us. St. Augustine wrote of God, “You are good and all-powerful, caring for each one of us as though the only one in your care, and yet for all as for each individual.” (Confessions, Oxford World’s Classics, p.50).

What this means is that we should get in the habit of watching for God’s leading in our everyday lives.  Though everything does not happen for a reason, the ways we respond to everything–especially the rough patches–can be opportunities for us to grow as disciples.

This is a call to pay attention to God in the moment.  Whatever you’re doing, do it as a disciple of Christ.

As Paul put it, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).