The Heart of a Disciple Maker
Why do you want to make disciples? Have you ever asked yourself that question? The answer is incredibly important.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we should be focused on making disciples. But if we donʼt do it with the right motives, we are wasting our time. Worse yet, we could be doing more harm than good. Ministering to other people has been a deadly trap for seemingly godly people
throughout the ages. If God cared only about outward appearances and religious activities, then any effort towards ministry would please Him. But God tells us repeatedly that He cares more about the heart than the externals.
If God cared only about religious activities, then the Pharisees would have been heroes of the faith. They were continuously engaged in ministry: they vigorously pursued an external form of righteousness, they made sure the people around them kept themselves holy, and they diligently taught the law of God. And yet the Gospels present the Pharisees as villains. Jesusʼ harshest words were reserved for these religious overachievers:
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:8-9)
The Pharisees devoted their whole lives to religious activity. They must have seemed so impressive to the people around them. Yet Jesus came along and declared that it was all in vain! An important theme that runs throughout Scripture is this: “The LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). Clearly, God
wants us to pursue certain actions; but as we put Godʼs commands into action, our motivation makes all the difference.
1. Take a moment to examine your heart. In all honesty, why do you want to make disciples?
I want to make disciples because I long for others to know Jesus the way that I know Jesus! I long for the hurting and broken to be healed and know they are loved. I want to make disciples because our Savior commands us to.
ReplyDeleteIt can be easy to get caught up in the actions though. We see it all the time, especially in this culture. Go to church, go to youth group or Bible study or a mission trip, we're good right? At least we're better than that guy or girl...it's so easy to turn it into a ladder, everything else in life is like that. It's hard to not bring that to our relationship with God.