Devotionals: Discipleship Archives - Page 2 of 3

Practical Steps

By Andrew YoungAugust 26, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“…what are practical steps we can take to bring strongly before us the joyous vision of the kingdom?” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: John 8:31-34 What can we do, in practical terms, to gain the “joyous vision of the kingdom” that will lead us to “sell all that we have” to become a follower of Jesus? This is the point Dallas Willard addresses next. True, in this matter, as in all things connected with our spiritual lives, we are dependent upon God’s initiative and grace. “Seeing Jesus in all his beauty and glory,” Willard writes, “is always a gift of grace” (The […]

Counting the Cost

By Andrew YoungAugust 25, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“There is no such thing as a dreadful price for the ‘pearl’ in question…” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: Luke 14:25-33 Becoming a disciple, we noted in our last devotional, begins with the heart. It begins with seeing the incomparable value of knowing Jesus and entering his kingdom. Only with that inner spirit can we meet the cost involved in being a true follower. Then, it really ceases to be a cost. “None one goes sadly, reluctantly into discipleship with Jesus,” Dallas Willard writes. “No one goes in bemoaning the cost. They understand the opportunity.” (The Divine Conspiracy, 320). Often, the […]

Becoming a Disciple

By Andrew YoungAugust 24, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“It is now generally acknowledged… that one can be a professing Christian and a church member in good standing without being a disciple.” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: Matthew 13:44-46 The quote at the head of this devotional may make you want to protest. “What!” you exclaim. “People can’t possibly be professing Christians and yet not be disciples?” Perhaps you think Dallas Willard is mistaken. But sadly, he is not – at least, not in terms of the kind of “disciple” of Jesus that we have been exploring. Disciples, we have noted, are people who have committed themselves “to being with […]

Kingdom Teachers

By Andrew YoungAugust 23, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“They were to teach the truth revealed… in the context of what had happened to them.” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: Matthew 13:47-52 There is a third aspect of Jesus’ kingdom ministry among us that we need to consider. He not only “proclaimed” and “manifested” the presence of God’s kingdom in his own person, but he also “taught” others about it as well. He helped them see what the rule of God among men looked like. And those, who like Jesus, devote their lives to gospel ministry today, must do the same. This was something, Willard points out, that was slow […]

Kingdom Workers

By Andrew YoungAugust 22, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“Those who are his disciples… still do announce the availability of the kingdom of heaven to all.” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: Matthew 10:1-10 We have seen how being a disciple or apprentice of Jesus is meant to impact the way we go about our daily work, whatever that be. Before looking at the next section in Willard’s chapter (“How to Become a Disciple”), two other matters he mentions are worth considering. The first is what discipleship means for those whose full-time “work” is devoted to “opening and ministering the kingdom to others” – that is, those who spend their time directly […]

Following Jesus in Your Job (5)

By Andrew YoungAugust 21, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“If you dislike, or even hate your job… the quickest way out of that job, or to joy in it, is to do it as Jesus would.” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: Colossians 3:15-17 We return for the last time to the subject of being a disciple of Christ in the workplace. Dallas Willard’s treatment of this is among the most helpful I have read. I trust you have been blessed by it as well. One of the last points Willard picks up in this discussion is the place “pleasing our (human) boss” should have in the way we approach our […]

Following Jesus in Your Job (4)

By Andrew YoungAugust 20, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“Our intention with our job should be the highest possible good….” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: Colossians 3:23-24 We are continuing to dwell on this theme of being a disciple of Jesus in the workplace because of its great importance. Among the general counsels Dallas Willard offers are non-cooperation in things that are wrong, a genuine spirit of service, alertness and readiness to help where there is a spiritual need, and specific kingdom responses when practices of questionable worth arise. But there is another thing that is important to remember about being a true Christ-follower in our workplace. That is the […]

Following Jesus in Your Job (3)

By Andrew YoungAugust 19, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“In some situations, it is only words that can help towards understanding.” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: 1 Peter 3:13-17 Up to this point, Willard’s advice on what it means to be a disciple at work has focused on general attitudes and actions. We are not to be arch-critics of everyone else’s behaviour, we are to be marked by a spirit of genuine servant-heartedness, and maintain a spirit of prayer for all that our work entails and the people engaged in it. But there will be occasions, Willard tells us when specific instructions Jesus gave regarding the behaviour of his followers […]

Following Jesus in Your Job (2)

By Andrew YoungAugust 18, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“A gentle but firm non-cooperation with things that everyone knows to be wrong… should be our usual overt manner.” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: Ephesians 5:3-7 In our last devotional, we began to look at Willard’s practical advice for being a disciple in the places where we work or spend most of our waking hours. We saw, to begin with, that it is not by becoming the “Christian nag-in-residence, the rigorous upholder of all propriety, and the dead-eye critic of everyone else’s behaviour.” But if this is not how Jesus would have us follow him in our daily work lives, what […]

Following Jesus in Your Job (1)

By Andrew YoungAugust 17, 2017Devotionals: Discipleship

“…not to find your job to be a primary place of discipleship is to automatically exclude a major part, if not most, of our waking hours from life with him.” Dallas Willard Bible Reading: Matthew 5:13-16 One thing should be abundantly clear about discipleship by now: that it is about doing as much good as we possibly can during our “days under the sun” as we seek to follow Jesus in the real life that we have in this world. There is nowhere that this becomes more relevant than in the places where we work – whether that be to […]