Intentional Discipleship
Today’s devotional was written by my son, Clark Wrather, who is the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma. (Clark was called to be the pastor of the First Baptist Chruch of Yukon, Oklahoma in July of 2012.)
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. – Philippians 2:5-8.
I have noticed something over the years of my life. I am either getting fatter or I’m becoming slimmer. It would be nice if my body would stay constantly at one perfect weight, but this has not happened. I imagine that it has not happened for you either.
I realize I am influencing the process all the time. The total often rises when I leave Pizza Hut with the satisfaction that comes from knowing they lost money on me after my performance at their buffet. This type of influence is on a subconscious level, but occasionally I try to directly influence the rise and fall.
A couple of years ago, after having a freak inspiration around New Year’s, I decided to stop the steady rise and see if I could make my weight take a drastic downturn. Part of my action plan included paying for a month of membership at our local gym. The membership was around $30.00, but guess what? I never went to the gym.
I never went despite my desire to lose a few pounds. I never went, despite, making a commitment to do so. I never went even though I had paid for it. In retrospect, I have to admit I’m somewhat ashamed of myself.
Your spiritual life is very similar to your physical life. You are either growing closer to God or you are moving away from Him. Your relationship with Him does not stay the same everyday. Like your weight, unless you decide to influence the process, you will probably move away from God instead of growing closer to Him.
I know that some of you have never gotten intentional about growing closer to God. You would like to be. You would like to walk closely with God, possibly as much as I might like to look like a guy on the cover of Men’s Health magazine. If I’m honest, I can admit to myself that I must not care all that much about my weight, because I have done nothing about it. How much do you really care about being close to God if you are doing nothing about it?
(Becoming like Jesus does not just happen – it requires intentional and serious effort.)