Disciples: Discipling
Disciples: Discipling
Success Can Be Failure
A rehabilitation counselor took early retirement to spend the rest of his life preaching the gospel. Early in his career he found a young boy with several birth defects. He arranged financial and medical help. Skilled surgeons restored the child's facial appearance. Trained therapists taught him to speak and walk. By his teens, the boy was able to take part in all the activities of other young people.
"What do you think has become of this young man?" the counselor asked. One guessed he was a great athlete; another, a skilled surgeon. "No, none of these," the retired counselor said sadly. "The young man is a prisoner, serving a life sentence for murder. We were able to restore his physical features and his ability to walk and act, but we failed to teach him where to walk and how to act. I was successful in helping the boy physically, but I failed to help him spiritually."
Think About It
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. A Generation of Mules
"The church today is raising a whole generation of mules. They know how to sweat and to work hard but they don't know how to reproduce themselves."
It's not known who said that, but it is a statement of incredible insight. Mules are hard workers. They have carried supplies, plowed fields, pulled wagons and transported people. The only problem is that they are almost always sterile and thus cannot reproduce. They are hard workers, but they are the end of the line. They do not produce more like themselves.
The church is full of hard workers. They teach classes, serve the physical needs of others, clean up and mow the grass, cook, move tables, organize social activities, visit and even write letters and cards, and do a host of other things. There is just one problem. They don't "reproduce." They don't teach the gospel to the lost so others can become hard workers. They are the end of the line.
The real job the Lord gave us is to go into the world and "reproduce ourselves" by making disciples of others (Matthew 28:18-20). It is a tough lesson to realize that you may have worked hard and yet still haven't gotten the job done. Let us say it plainly. If we are not evangelizing, we are not doing the job completely. If we are nothing more than a generation of mules, we are on the road to extinction. Hup, Mule! Gee-Haw!!! Who Leads Whom?
A worldly kind of person came to the preacher, defending her practice of attending worldly entertainments. She said, "But, pastor, I can take Jesus Christ with me wherever I go." The pastor after a few moments of thought quietly replied, "Indeed, is that so? I didn't know that was the order of the Bible. Is it for you to lead Jesus to where you want to go or for Him to lead you where He wants you to be?"