The Longest Yard: Making Disciples

Take a yardstick.

And break it in half.

Keep going until you have the smallest piece possible and you'll begin to get an idea of how we measure success in discipling.

We work in

very.

small.

increments.

Our job is discipleship: being disciples and making disciples. We are to pursue Christ and develop believers from Fort Worth to Calcutta. Just know what you're getting into: the fact track works as well in disciple making as it does in growing roses or godly children, in building muscles or a healthy marriage. There's just no way to microwave church members to maturity. And there's no spiritual steroid we can inject to get juiced for Jesus. No one song, sermon, or small group will change the world in one fell swoop. And they were never intended to do so. These exist to call us up to living in such a way that we daily cause, in ever-increasing increments, Kingdom growth.

In doing the true work of making disciples, all we've got is a lot of tough, emotionally-draining, physically-demanding, Spirit-dependent, back-breaking labor. And this is work that most of us, if we're doing our duty rightly, will never receive any credit for in this world. The human race will care little that you lay your heart down to love your way into the world of an unlovable. No one will stop to give you praise for waking up at Five AM to read your Scriptures. Or applaud your early morning or middle-of-the-night intercession on behalf of a spiritual brother. And no one needs to.

In Luke 17:7-10, Christ talks about the master of an unworthy servant: "Does [the master] thank the servant because he did what was commanded?" Jesus asks. "So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say 'We are unworthy servants, we have only done what was our duty.'" At the end of the day when your head hits the pillow, at the end of your life when the dirt hits the casket, that's all you've got: You were an unworthy servant doing only what the Master commanded of you.

Jesus demands you be His disciple and a disciplemaker.

That's your task.

Wear yourself out.

A bottom-line fixated society that measure success in charts won't get this. Some within the Body of Christ don't get it either. Both will fault us for appearing too slow. They'll complain we didn't capitalize on the trend fast enough. We didn't hit the right market for the message we're bringing. We aren't getting enough people in the seats.

But I remind you, brothers and sister in Christ, we're in the business of love. And love takes time if it is to be truly lasting. Spirit-directed discipleship is the most difficult work of your life. And it's worth every bit of sweat, tears, and blood you put into it.

Discipling relationships aren't slapdash. They take time. Years. There are very few overnight results in discipleship, but there are plenty of lasting ones. Take heart that our influence and dedication aren't measured in flow charts or church budgets, leaps or bounds, but in lives slowly consistently lived and changed for Christ over the years and decades.