Living vrs. Doing

As of late, I have been reading a book called “The Divine Conspiracy” by Dallas Willard. It took me a while to get into this book due to the nature of the writing, but now I cannot put it down. It has caused me to start thinking differently about my “Christian” life and how I live it. For sometime now, maybe a few years, I have desired a fresh look at this thing called Christianity, and I think I may have found it. I have had many conversations with friends and family about how it seems that Christian’s have somehow made Jesus into a buddy that can be called on when needed as we live our “Christian” life, as opposed to the awe inspiring genius teacher that He was and is. There seems to be a lack of wonder, trembling, curiosity, and respect for Christ, I’ve seen it in others and especially in myself. I was raised in the church, my father is a licensed minister, and I serve as the Director of Worship at our church. I read the bible, go to Sunday school, I pray, and try to live a good life serving others and living peaceably among mankind. Most would consider this to be the life of a “Christian”, and so have I for many years. Since I have started reading this book, I have started asking myself if that is true. Curious yet? If you look in the dictionary under the suffix “ian” as in Christian, you will find the following meaning or explanation.

“ian” :One relating to, belonging to, or resembling:

So the word Christian would be broken down to the following sentence. One relating to, belonging to, or resembling Christ.

Now the “belonging to” and the “relating to” I may have been able to emulate a few times in my life so far. It’s the “resembling” that I fall short. Christ told his disciples in Matthew 28, to go make disciples of all nations.

What is a disciple? The dictionary’s definition is “a convinced adherent of a school or individual”.

In Willard’s book, he uses the word apprentice. I like this term much better than disciple. Because it makes me think of someone that closely follows the one teaching him or her. Someone that would believe and pay close attention to the teacher with respect, admiration, and delight at the opportunity that they get to learn from such a person. I believe this to be fairly close to the definition of disciple. So when it comes to the “resembling” of Christ, have I been or have I not been. I believe that it is perfectly possible for someone to live his or her whole life, going to church, praying, living peaceably with others, even serving in the church, and still not resemble Christ in the way Christ intended us to. I don’t want that to be me. I “want to” resemble Christ, I “want to” be His apprentice, but can I truly? The answer is yes. John the Baptist was an apprentice of God, and he paid a high sacrifice for it. Unlike most other religious leaders of the time, he lived without all the modern comforts of the day. He was poor and had the tattered clothing to prove it. His diet consisted of locust and honey, just enough sustenance to live. He knew his place when it came to the coming Christ, he told us during his message in the river, when he said that there was one coming whose sandals he was not worthy to untie. (Something that the servants of that day didn’t even do.) When the religious leaders of the day showed up, John called them out and basically accused them of merely living a lifestyle that made them look as though they were righteous and holy.

By now you may be asking so what’s the point? Where are you going with this? Well, this is something that effects us all, because far to many of us, including myself “live” our Christian lives instead of “doing” them. If you scroll back up the post to about 5 lines down from the top, you will notice that I wrote “my Christian life and how I live it.” I realized just a minute ago that my thinking process is messed up. If I merely “live” my Christian life and “do” nothing, than what kind of life is it really? It is a life of “meets my needs” Christianity. It is a life that is comfortable and one that requires little to no sacrifice. It is a life that we control, instead of giving up and dying to. It’s a life that is spent trying to make myself feel better about me. What can I get out of church today, How can Christ serve me today. I hope worship is good today. AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!
When did it become about us or me? It is suppose to be about CHRIST. HE’S the one who died on the cross. HE’S the one who is the genius teacher. HE’S the one that we should worship, HE’S the one that defeated death and won the final victory.

(Time to settle down)

Christ said.
“GO” – move, seek, search, find
“MAKE” – do something, transform, teach
“DISCIPLES” – apprentices that will believe me, respect me, learn from me,
follow me.
“OF ALL NATIONS” – everywhere, everyone, do not pick and choose

I have made a commitment to myself that I will become an “apprentice of Jesus”. I am going to stop “living” my Christian life, and I am going to start ”doing” my Christian life. I want to challenge you to think about your Christian life, are you merely “living” or are you “doing”? Are you an apprentice of Jesus? Do you use Christ as a buddy when you need Him? Or do you respect Him for the genius teacher He was and is? Think about it.