This is something Sonya, my wife, posted on her Facebook this week. I thought it pretty profound, and thoroughly biblical.
(For those of you who do not know her, my wife is not in this picture.)
Discipleship is not easy. It is time-intensive. It is labor-intensive. It will cost you. it is not done in a day or a week. Throwing out spiritual platitudes is not the way to disciple someone. Criticizing their legitimate questions is not discipleship; it just drives those questions underground. Admitting you still have your own questions shows that you, also, are still a disciple and still in need of growth. Guess what? If you are still walking this earth, you haven’t arrived yet. In a good discipling relationship, there is no room for spiritual pride.
It rather reminds me of something else I read a while back from this missionary guy named Paul. Writing to believers in Thessolonica, Greece, he said,
Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother nurtures her own children. We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you…As you know, like a father with his own children, we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 11-12, HCSB)
