Becoming disciple
We are once again in the season of Lent, a time of examination, contemplation, and self-denial. During the forty days of preparation leading up to Easter Sunday we will undertake traditional communal practices of examination such as Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. Additionally, this season will be filled with other opportunities for us to encounter the Spirit of God. One time-honored practice during Lent is to give up something that you enjoy for the forty days leading up to Easter. The object of this exercise is to practice self-denial and to replace the time you would have spent on that activity in the employment of a means of grace (think prayer, study). Because Lent is a time of preparation it necessarily involves a deliberate consecration to fully enjoy and be aware of the grace of God.
Corresponding to the regular practices of self-denial during Lent, there is another practice that you might entertain. Consider adding a spiritual practice to your Lenten preparation. For example, you might take up fasting, or the reading of scripture on a more frequent basis. You might consider a Lenten devotional, there are plenty from which to choose. One person I know mentioned that they were going to read through the gospel of Matthew as their practice. When you pray, perhaps you might consider more often than your regular rhythm of prayer. The point is that there are many different spiritual practices that you might employ in order to enhance your time of preparation in anticipation of celebrating Easter.
For my Lenten practice this season, I am planning to read a series of books that are in my study at home. These are books that have captured my interest over the last couple of years but due to other responsibilities, I have been unable to read any of them. So my Lenten discipline is to read ten pages every day from one or more of these books. Some of the books I am reading include The Great Omission and Renovation of the Heart, both by Dallas Willard. I am also reading Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. I have also undertaken a read through of the book of Revelation in anticipation of the upcoming class I will teach later this Spring.
Whatever practice you choose, let this be a time in which you discipline yourself to be more in tune to the rhythm of God’s kingdom. The Apostle Peter was correct when he reminded his fellow disciples that they were not at home in this world though they lived in it (1 Peter 2: 11-12).
When you get down to it, Lent, and other seasons and days in the life of the church are opportunities for us to discipline ourselves for the sake of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7-8). Our calling is to be something more than Christians; we must become disciples of Christ. Too often in our world those who darken the doors of the church are content with the acquisition of knowledge instead of a practiced pursuit of the way of Jesus. This has, over the past decades, created a church that is holding to a form of godliness, but denying the power therein. Instead of the form only, the church is called to the cultivation of godliness. This can only be achieved by those who are determined to follow in the way of Jesus as a disciple. If you want this kind of life as I do, then it begs the question, “what is a disciple?”
Dallas Willard, whom you may recall I will be reading this Lent, spent a great deal of his life concerned with the practice of discipleship. In several of his books he describes the process of discipleship as being “apprenticed” to Jesus. This kind of person is to be differentiated from merely a student in pursuit of knowledge. In Willard’s estimation, a disciple is one whose practice is to become more like the one who teaches them. Rather than know what the teacher knows, the disciple desires to be who the teacher is. This means that the disciple will rearrange their life to accommodate this practice of embodying the practices and behaviors of their teacher in sincere hope that they might become like him or her.
That is the call for us in this modern world. No, we cannot follow an itinerant preacher all over the country leaving behind our vocations and families. Though one wonders what might happen if we did! This world we live in is different than the world of the New Testament. We can, however, adopt practices and behaviors, together with other like-minded disciples, that will bring about the sanctification of our souls. Lent is a reminder of the call of discipleship in that respect. Always moving forward, always striving for perfection as our good friend Dr. Daniel Topalski reminded us, we persevere in the life of a disciple.
As you move forward in Lent, and into the remainder of this year, keep this theme of discipleship in mind. It will be something that occurs over and over again throughout the year. Consider who the Lord might put upon your heart to lead in the way of Jesus. Pray and ask for the Lord to bring someone into your life or reveal someone in your life already who might disciple you in the way of Jesus. The call of discipleship is in front of us. May the Lord open up our hearts and give us a hunger for more, and give us the courage to rearrange our lives in pursuit of Him.
-Rev. Adam Thornton
