Faith Venture

I listened to one of my favorite teachers this morning on the subway (U-Bahn) ride from my hotel to the “fairgrounds” or Messe.

He is teaching for a few weeks on the topic of Christian or disciple.

This is worth pondering. The origin of the word “Christian” was from those outside the faith and used as a term of derision. If you were inside the faith, you were a disciple. Some today use the term “Christ-follower.”

One term is a description. The other term implies an action. Do I just identify with a group? Or, do I follow a teacher/mentor/leader? Do I ask of my mentor, when faced with a situation in my life, what would you do? Even before you ask the question, the answer is “yes.” That is, whatever my mentor would do, that I will do.

I have never been asked the question before last week, but someone asked, “Are you a born-again Christian?” To be honest, I am somewhat put off by the question. It is a description that could well be asked with political overtones.

But, I’m not really all that political any longer. I am trying to be a disciple–someone who follow Jesus.

I try to remember to ask in every situation (oh, I wish I were not sometimes forgetful), Jesus, what would you have me do? And then listen (an interesting concept to many–or even a foreign concept to some). And then do.

A disciple of Jesus:

• Asks Jesus what to do
• Listens for the answer
• Does what Jesus says

Gosh, that sounds simple. I wish it were.

This entry was posted on April 9, 2013 at 6:51 am and is filed under Faith, Listening, Relationship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.