Meditation 17: A Fully Trained Disciple

In Luke 6:40, Jesus gives a clear, concise and practical metric for determining when someone has been fully trained and well-discipled.  He says, “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.”  In other words, when I look at someone I have been discipling and can honestly say that the person’s life and character remind me a lot of Jesus, then I know the individual has been fully trained. The key, however, is to remember that I am not trying to make people look like me, but rather like Jesus in me. It can be easy to confuse wanting people to look like me with wanting their lives to reflect the life of Jesus in me.

Of course, no one is going to look exactly like Jesus on this side of eternity.  But when someone has grown to look more like Jesus than not, it probably is safe to say that s/he has been fully trained. This is not to say the person has nothing left to learn, but rather that s/he is ready to be launched in much the same way that Jesus sent out His disciples before He ascended into heaven.  Even though His disciples still had much to learn, Jesus considered them fully trained by that point.  Otherwise, He would not have commissioned them as His messengers!  He would send His Holy Spirit to continue instructing and counseling them. But their training was complete!

Are you fully trained? Can you point to anyone in your life who you personally have fully trained such that s/he looks like our Teacher, our Rabonni, Jesus?  You and I look the most like Jesus when we help others (by our words and by our example) to live as He did.

Meditation 16: On The Way!

Jesus told His disciples: "There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” (John 14:2-4) (NLT).

There is room for each and every one of us in our Father's house.  He offers each of us a place, a purpose, and a position of eternal significance in His Kingdom! “Come one, come all,” He calls.

The only thing required of us is to do what all of us naturally and instinctively do when we travel somewhere: Follow the prepared way -- the predesigned route -- to our destination.  Today, most of us use MapQuest, a Garmin, or some other GPS device to guide us to our destination.  Jesus is the divine equivalent of the predesigned road systems that enable us to reach our travel destinations.  And He also is the spiritual analog of the GPS devices that guide us to those destinations! 

In John 14:6 (NLT), Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."  In other words, Jesus is The Way to our final terminus.  He is the divine road that leads to Heaven -- there is no other path, there is no other way!  Pretty straightforward!  And His travel directions are equally elementary: “Follow Me,” He says. “Follow The Way!” (Cf. Matthew 9:9; John 14:6). 

The roadway to heaven is a person, Jesus Christ, not a constellation of rules, regulations, and rituals.  Our directions simply are to place our faith in the Way, Jesus, and follow it/Him all the way to our final destination, our heavenly abode.  That God has designed such a simple path (and such simple directions) to His heavenly Kingdom is yet another testament to His unfathomable love for us.

I am on The Way! I am headed Home and looking for some more travel companions.  I know my Heavenly Father will have a radiant residence for me and for anyone else I bring along with me.  Anyone interested in joining me on this glorious journey? . . . Anyone?