What Discipleship Is (and Isn’t)

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Discipleship is not about:

  • Religious rituals
  • Biblical knowledge
  • Emotional experiences, or even
  • Spiritual disciplines

Though they all help!

It is about submitting every thought — and emotion! — to Christ, so we more consistently manifest the Fruit of the Spirit.

[By denying our Self so we can follow Jesus all the way to the Cross]

Which is how others learn to enjoy Him.

#AmygdalaGospel #TheTransition #FruitOfTheCross

3/25 Limerick: Gift Withholding

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“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

If You are withholding Your gift
Maybe it’s due to our rift
It’s always worthwhile
That we reconcile
To show the world we get Your drift!

3/23 Limerick: God-Pardner

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Lord, I want God as my pardner
So I can best do what I oughter
With you at my side
I’m your secure Bride
And we raise the world like our daughter!

So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.
John 5:19

Jonah’s Brother

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Earnest: Yo, Jonah!

Jonah: Yo, Earnest! What brings you all the way back here to Nineveh?

E. Well, it’s kind of embarrassing…

J. Please don’t tell me this is for another whale pun!

E. What? No, nothing like that.

J. Whew. That’s a relief. I can handle anything except another whale pun.

E. Oh, great! I actually wanted to talk to you about bitterness and judgmentalism.

J. …

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Me Encountering Jesus 2023-03-18

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I had two contradictory encounters at yesterday’s PAWS for Men Encountering Jesus.

Painfully Happy

During Immanuel Encounter,
I saw Jesus on a cliff overlooking the sea.

His arms were outstretched.
He had a huge grin.
He said, “Come fly with me!”

He had a huge grin on His face.
I heard the words “So Happy” over and over.

And I started sobbing great gut-wrenching sobs.

[on reflection: perhaps “un-wrenching”, like resetting a dislocated shoulder]

Joyfully Broken

The second was when Paul M. prayed for me.

I was describing unforgiveness as a barrier.
When you sin against me, you reveal that you and the world are broken.

Unforgiveness is my refusal to internalize that brokenness.

I saw Jesus sucking out my brokenness.
Leaving wholeness in its place.
Except where my brokenness was holding to that barrier.

Forgiveness is realizing I need to release that barrier.
So Jesus can suck out all my brokenness.
And yours through me.

#EmbraceTheSuck

I saw Him absorbing all that sin and shame on the cross.
And I just started laughing and laughing…

3/15 Limerick: Unfolding Mystery

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The story which our lives make told
Is one which must slowly unfold
The mystery seems dark
But grace is the spark
That unveils the path we enrolled

He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables
Mark 4:11