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Barren Barren Shannon | Feb 12, 2019   My route to work is the same every morning. I pass the same landmarks. I see the same fields and the countless trees that line the road. Although the wildlife is ever-changing, I usually see a variation of squirrels, birds, cattle, horses, and even a pig every now an...

4 Life Lessons From the Disciples' Calling

In mentoring our role isn’t to call every person to give up his or her job; God doesn’t call everyone to full-time ministry. However, He demands first place in our lives. The first commandment makes that clear: anything that keeps us from wholeheartedly serving God is an idol that must be forsaken (see Ex. 20:3). In the mentoring process we’re called to make God the priority of our lives and to lead others to do the same.

In the last stage of the disciples’ calling, Jesus chose twelve men to be apostles, a word that means “ones sent with a message.” These were the disciples Jesus would most closely mentor:

During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. When daylight came, he summoned his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles (Luke 6:12-13, CSB).

We can learn a lot from Jesus’ choosing the Twelve.

1. Jesus prayed—all night long, in fact. From His larger group of followers, Jesus then selected His mentees. Prayer is an important part of the mentoring process because we want to invest in the people God selects for us. He might direct us in prayer to people who surprise us—mentees we had never considered.

2. Jesus initiated the relationship. He didn’t wait for mentees to come to Him. He intentionally sought the men who would walk most closely with Him.

3. Jesus selected ordinary men. They weren’t religious leaders or trained teachers. Rather, they were uneducated and unknown.

4. Jesus called His disciples for a purpose. He would send them out, and they would carry His message throughout the Roman Empire. Mentoring would result in ministry and mission.

4 Important Questions We Should Ask

I love sports. But here is a sporting experience I would never want to have. Imagine being thrown into a game without knowing when it started, when it will finish, what the objective of the game is, or what the rules are. What would you do? You would probably ask the other players around you to answer those four questions for you.

What if they responded with many different answers? Or what if they simply carried on playing, uninterested in your questions and looking at you oddly for asking them? Next you would look to a coach for help, but what if the coach was standing there looking at the chaos and yelling, “Great job, guys! You’re all doing great! Keep going! We’ve got a first-place trophy waiting for all of you!”

Now imagine the conversations about the game on the drive home. They would be completely meaningless. It is our knowledge of the start, the finish, the objective, and the rules of a game that provides us with the freedom to play it and enjoy it in a meaningful way.

Sadly, this is not just a game; this is a reality for many who are struggling to live a meaningful life in our culture. As a society, we are losing the answers to these four crucial questions.

1. ORIGIN: Where did I come from?
2. MEANING: Why am I here?
3. MORALITY: How should I live?
4. DESTINY: Where am I going?

Your answers to those four fundamental questions form the basis of your worldview—the lens through which you experience and interpret the world around you, which therefore influences the way you choose to live.

We all need answers to the deepest questions of life. Our aim in Jesus Among Secular Gods is to put Christianity alongside the other major ways of seeing the world, in a respectful way, so that people can make an informed decision about what to believe and how to live.

Jesus Is Our Ultimate Prize

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

Ephesians 2:4-5

People will do almost anything when something threatens what they cherish. God so patiently delivered me from this type of entanglement. My freedom didn’t come as a result of God giving me everything I wanted and was jealous for—I know you’re surprised. Rather it came in discovering that everything I truly longed for was found in Jesus and His provision for me. God’s words in Scripture absolutely brought healing and transformation to me and will do the same for you. His words will meet you where you are, and your story of deliverance will be uniquely yours.

We used to be people who were “carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts” (Eph. 2:3). This was before our old nature was put to death with Christ when we believed in Him as our Savior. While a spiritual battle is still active within us, we’re no longer controlled by our cravings and lusts. We’re no longer bound to jealousy and revenge and bitterness when we don’t get what we want, when we are mistreated, or when we experience loss. Why? Because Jesus Christ is our ultimate prize, and the far lesser things that vie for our attention are nothing compared to who He is and what He can do for us.

We don’t always feel as though our sinful nature has been crucified, nor do we always feel raised up and alive in Christ, as Paul stated in Ephesians 2. But these are true realities for those who know Christ as Savior. As believers, claim the truths of Scripture even when you don’t feel them. No matter your wounds or unmet longings.

Excerpt from
No Other Gods (Revised & Updated) Bible Study
by Kelly Minter.

© 2017. LifeWay Christian Resources.
Used by permission.