All people who follow Jesus are his disciples, which is a
word that basically means "learners." He is our teacher and we are
His students, learning from Him.
How do we do this learning? The most basic way is by
attending worship regularly, where we sing God's praises, hear His word
proclaimed, share in the sacraments, and then take our learning with us as we
live in the world. There are a variety
of other ways we can learn from Jesus and as the new year begins I want to
share some thoughts on three things that you might try to use as you grow as a
disciple in 2017.
The first is to practice some form of personal devotions,
where you take some time each day to spend in prayer with God. There are many good resources that can help,
providing a piece of scripture, some thoughts on how that scripture may apply
to your life, and some suggestions for prayer.
We have the RCA devotional, Words of Hope, available at
church and will soon be getting copies of Our Daily Bread. There are also excellent online sources,
which can be emailed to you each day.
These include BlueLetterBible.org,
DesringGod.org
and Ligonier.org.
Another excellent way to grow as a disciple is by simply
reading your Bible. It is easy to do,
and all too easy not to do. Following a
Bible-reading plan is an excellent way to help you start and stay on
track. I have an app on my phone for the
plan I am using. Each day it lets me
know what I should read and it provides an easy way to keep track of my
progress. There are many different Bible
reading plans and I would be glad to help you find one that would be a good fit
for you.
And the last way to grow as a disciple that I want to
suggest today is to get into an active relationship with someone who can help
you along the way. While this may sound
like it is the hardest way, it is also one of the best ways. Being a disciple of Jesus is something we can
always grow in. There is no one who is a
perfect, or "finished," disciple.
When we work with someone else we share our journey with them and they
can help us in many ways. And as they
help us grow, they also grow. Robin and
I both treasure times in our lives when we had another person, or a small
group, that we connected with as a part of our spiritual growth. As with the first two methods, I would be
glad to actively help in your spiritual growth.
It is a new year and there is truly no time like the present
to grow as a Christian, to have lives that are shaped more and more like the
Lord Jesus Christ, as we love and serve Him right here in Dulce.
Scripture quotations
are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by
Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.