Before We Go, Make Disciples of Ourselves
When confronted with the Great Commission that calls us “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), I have often thought that this verse is central to my understanding of the purpose of my life. To digest His great command well through our lives, we have to focus on what it actually means to make disciples. Yes, this is the most important command from Jesus to spread the gospel to the nations in every corner of the world until all have heard. But, my question is who will be the first target we can reach out and lead to faith and repentance. I will explore some more to discover the answer to this question below.
Making disciples is based on helping men and women have a deep commitment with the Lord and to love the Lord through practicing spiritual disciplines in ministry. When we think of “spiritual disciplines,” we often fall into the trap of thinking that we can succeed and accomplish it by our efforts. I would rather say that only God’s grace gives us “spiritual strength” when we set aside time with God, worshiping, praying and reading the Bible every day. Even though we want to be in control of our spiritual growth, it is not up to us to build it up by ourselves. As God initiates “worship” to restore the relationship with us, we have to be reminded that God is in control for our “spiritual disciplines.” By His bountiful and powerful love, we first become Christians and then we are bound to keep our spiritual lives with spiritual disciplines and practices by His grace alone. In this regard, I would like to highlight this point that the spiritual disciplines are for every believer, in every age, in every culture, and are one of the most important parts of our everyday lives.
According to a recent survey conducted by ‘LifeWay’ research team, it showed that only 19 percent of church members read the Bible every day. I am reluctant to admit it but in a way, we, as ministers, are responsible for this negative result. Before we start criticizing others in this matter, we have to take a good look at ourselves. Without looking at ourselves first, it is pointless to try to change others and make disciples of them. If we accept that we have an appreciable effect on others in ministry, we have to find a way to disciple ourselves first. I strongly believe that our personal perspectives will turn one hundred and eighty degrees when we put top priority on spending time with God in our lives. Once we devote ourselves to this task, we are available for making a decision of how and when we are going to start talking about discipleship with others. To make disciples of others, we should commit ourselves to self-discipline first with spiritual practices on a daily basis.
Lastly, I want to bring up one practical example for our own spiritual disciplines. As we all know that repetition is a key method in mastering skills, we need the repetition of spiritual practices to be fully engaged in the time with God. In light of Randall Bradley’s argument that “spiritual development is not a one-time process; it is a dynamic process rooted in relationship with God” in his book, From Postlude to Prelude, we should understand that “spiritual disciplines” take time and must have life-long attention. In addition, he stated that “the minister’s ongoing relationship with God cannot be ignored if the ministry is to remain viable for the long-term.” Theologians also say that Jesus’ words in His Great Commission (Matthew 28) emphasize not the moment of salvation but the lifetime of sanctification that follows. In other words, the more often we spend time with God in private worship time every day, the deeper relationship with God we are able to have every day. I do not think that we can complete our spiritual growth with practices, but I am convinced that the repetition of spiritual practices can help us shape our healthy spiritual lives.
