Tag Archives: disciple

Daily

daily

Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

I have been on a mission to read more daily devotionals and listen to daily podcasts on a Scripture verse. Like with anything, it comes easily at first, but then I have noticed that other distractions get in the way. “I have to take a shower before I do a devotion.” “I have too much work to do to listen to a podcast today.” “I have a TV show I want to watch instead.” So I have fallen behind. With the Holy Spirit’s help I hope to get back on track this week and carve out time for spiritual meditation on a daily basis.

At the same time, I am sticking to my personal commitment to walk every day, no matter what. How am I keeping that up? I think it is because I do it right away in the morning before any other distractions hit. I also am accountable to my trainer, who will ask me if I walked every day this week. And I do see results. I have lost 15 pounds in the process, for instance.

Some of these same motivators could help in daily focusing on God. I can do the devotion or podcast right away in the morning. I can have someone keep me accountable for doing the meditations. And I can be on the lookout for ways in which what I thought about in my spiritual moments positively affected my attitude toward others, my approach to work and my desire to serve.

My prayer continues to be that I be a daily disciple for Christ, and I hope the same for you.

Follow Close

follow close

We say in Lent that we follow in the footsteps of Jesus on his way to the cross. But what does that mean exactly? In a sermon I heard a few weeks ago, the preacher talked about how disciples in Jesus’ day walked so close behind their masters that dust from their masters’ footsteps fell onto them. That’s how close we should follow Jesus this Lent. We should let his words, his life, his ways fall on us and become a part of us and who we are.

What is more, many disciples in the time of Jesus were spokespeople for their masters. They knew what he would say. They knew what he would do. They knew how he would respond. We who have read the gospels and know the trajectory of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection can speak with certainty that Jesus would say, “I love you.” We know that he would do the job of a servant to show his care. We know that he would respond with mercy to every confession of sin.

Our lives should be in lockstep with our Savior. Our walk should always mirror his. As St. Paul tells us, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when it comes to our imitation of Christ, it is the sincerest form of faith. Be a faithful follower of Christ today.