The second step of discipleship ... follows after a good start. That good start is acknowledgment of the need to Follow Him. As important is the acknowledgement of the Commission by Jesus...
I have a favorite singer/songwriter by the name of Marty Goetz. His praise/worship music has been a huge blessing in my family and we have had the pleasure of meeting with him as well as worshiping the Lord with him several times. He has been considered a modern day Psalmist and rightly so...
He has one specific song that holds more truth for me - than any of his other songs. This song is titled, "Hineni", which translated is, "Here am I..."
In this song, it begins with Isaiah (Chp 6) hearing the call of the Lord asking, "Who will go for us?", Isaiah after having his mouth purged by the coal cried out, "Here am I, send me."
As the song continues, what is described is the disciples of Jesus, hearing the call better known as the Great Commission and "with their lives, they said, hineni".
The song concludes with, "But I say, Woe is me. I'm undone by what I heard, for I'm a man unclean by thought and word. But as for me, I need the fire of your glory to purge my lips to tell your story. My Lord, may you hear me say, 'Hineni'... send me."
Never have I had a song invade my very soul, everytime I hear it. Not just some of the time or most of the time, I am speaking, every time. Even when I went to a website while writing this, to see the lyrics so I get them correct before I added them here, reading these words invaded my very soul and reminded me, I needed to be cleansed so I can, again, go out and be the light, to hold the savor of being the salt.
I don't write this to pat my self on the back and say I recognize how much of a worm I am, or that I recognize regularly how much I cannot do without Him in my life, quite the contrary. It is almost only when I hear this song, or read accounts like Isaiah in the Bible that I find I have a need to be "purged", of me.
The most disconcerting times for me are when I recognize the moments I don't finish the phrase Isaish said, or what the disciples said "with their lives". I usually only get to the part I recognize I have the need to have me purged of me and it stops there. I don't make the transition to say, "send me". I want to wallow in that lovely feeling of being overwhelmed in His spirit as my feet are again cleansed by the Lord. Instead, I would sit there with my feet in the basin and not step out.
How selfish is that?
I've learned through these years, I had been slow to take that next step because I self-discipled. My study life and understanding of His call was incomplete. I was an island with nary a person in my life to make me take responsibility of my actions. And worse, allowed to hold me accountable.
It was the moment I accepted my life as a disciple to another that my life began to look like that of Jesus' guys. I have found it so much easier to not only announce, "Here am I", it became just as easy to say, "Send me".
Jesus' examples of discipleship are important, without these examples, I would still be the one you see at church during worship, saying, "Here am I" and you most likely thinking, he is one of those guys that said, "Send me" and went. But, in the famous words of Paul Harvey, "And now you know ..the rest of the story".
How about you?
Do you have a story, an example you want to share that may help another see a need for Discipleship?
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