A Discipleship Primer

On a Monday in October of 1981, I met Jesus. It's hard to describe what happened that day. It actually started the evening before at Sunday evening church service. I felt that Jesus was trying to get my attention, so I gave it to Him. I took that Monday off work, calling in sick, which was a lie. Lying was not unusual for me at that time. It was a day of Scripture, prayer and tears, just me and Jesus. By the end of that day, I knew I was a different person. I have described my understanding of the change in me as a block of ice melting. This converting event began in church. Church wasn't new to me. I had been in church most of my life. I had made a profession of faith some years prior and been baptized. I was even teaching Sunday School at the time of this life-changing event. I was thirty-three years old and had lived most of those years as a lie, although not an intentional one. I just knew that nothing that had ever happened at church had ever really touched my life in a deep, meaningful way. However, by the end of that Monday, I knew I would never be the same, and I haven't been. God began working in my life immediately, and His first task was to stop my lies. I found that I had to correct myself if I said anything untrue. That was so embarrassing that it didn't take long for the lies to stop. However, over these forty-some years, the Lord has taught me that truth is about much more than not speaking lies. I began studying scripture and praying. I started imitating people in church who had qualities that I thought honored God. God has made some of those qualities fundamental in my life. Something was missing, however. I recognized others in church who were, intentionally or unintentionally, pretending to be faithful Christians, as I had done for years. I wondered why. Most had probably made professions of faith and been baptized as I had. Their lives, like mine, were not changed. What was missing? Discipleship.