In preparation for promoting Caritas, and for clarity in my own mind and heart, I’ve been starting to put to words my heart in setting up this program. There are two branches to the program: 1)Going in teams and 2)Rooting into a community. I have specific visions/desires for each branch and I’ve made a list of those. I will start to blog about each vision/desire one at a time. Today is my first installment. I pray that the Holy Spirit would challenge you through my own challenges.
Vision for teams:
- Discipleship
- Christ centered nursing
- Compassion
- Love
- Passion
Vision for Community
- Evangelism
- Partnership
- Empowerment
- Hope
- Love
- Health
Discipleship
We have been called to go and make disciples. Matthew 28:16-20 says:
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holey Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”
I’m interested in discipleship not only because it’s what I am called (as are you) but because my heart longs for relationship. I’m a very relational person. I mean we are all relational – created from relationship (the Trinity) to be in relationship. In the beginning God said it’s not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). So at the core of our being we are relational, we desire relationship because that’s what we have been created for. I’ve written countless things about this, and I know I’ve repeated myself over and over, but I know that my heart desires to disciple because my heart desires to be in relationship.
I think discipleship is something that isn’t done quite as well as it should. Discipleship calls for sacrifice, for selflessness, for commitment. These are three things that my generation in particular isn’t good at. The disciples of Jesus left everything, literally everything to follow him.
Imagine that you have a thriving oil business, you are making millions, and you are at the top of your game you feel like nothing could knock you down. You have a million dollar house, a hundred thousand dollar car, you spend your weekends golfing and shopping, you can’t imagine how life could possibly get better. Then one day you meet this guy and He shows you that life beyond what you have now is possible, that you’re possessions and your power are fleeting, they are temporary and not really useful. He opens your eyes and your heart to an eternal life, one where possessions don’t matter, people matter, and people matter because they were created in the image of perfection for a specific purpose, time and place. YOU matter because you were created for a specific purpose, time and place. So he shows you this and then asks you to give everything you have and follow him. COMMIT to HIM, SACRIFICE everything you have for HIM, become SELFLESS for HIM. This is what Jesus disciples did for HIM.
If you are a Christian you have assumed the same as His disciples, because you are His disciple, but are you really a disciple?
I’m not saying you have to sell all your earthly possessions and go off to the bush to live a life of simplicity because everything is fleeting.
All I’m doing is asking if you have truly counted the cost of following Him?
There is a cost, what is it in your life?
I struggle with this EVERY SINGLE day of my life lately.
Have I counted the cost? Is the cost negotiable? Can I talk Him down to a price that I feel is doable? Is this life of commitment, sacrifice and selflessness worth it?
Jesus talks about this in Luke 14:26-34
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. Any anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
It’s a high price to follow Christ and I fear that we do not portray that price adequately. When someone comes to Christ do we read them this scripture? Do we warn them of what they are getting into? Do we ask them to count the cost?
I really believe that God is rising up this generation to count the cost. He is calling people to leave everything they have known and follow Him. This might be on missions, at work, in their family, or sacrificing finances in order to support others. He’s teaching this generation about the cost, and people are following. We have a long way to go though, and part of my passion in doing medical missions in a team setting is to make disciples. Disciples make disciples, so if I disciple two people, and those two people disciple two people and those four people each disciple two people then we have multiplied His disciples. I can impact two people’s lives for the Kingdom and together our impact becomes huge and the ripple effect will continue.
Discipleship is mandatory in the Kingdom of God and I’m ready to go there. I’m ready to see lives completely and utterly sacrificed to His calling in their lives. I’m ready to walk beside them and support them, teach them and most importantly learn from them.