First published on Nov. 15, 2016
What do you love to do? What are the things you look forward to spending some of your free time doing?
Maybe it’s a sport, like golfing, tennis, or basketball. Maybe it’s hunting or fishing. Maybe you love to be creative by crafting, woodworking, or cooking. What about the arts… playing instruments and/or singing, painting, or design? Playing video games or watching movies? Or going on hikes?
What is it? What is that one thing that you could do at any time with anyone?
Now here’s a crazy idea – what if you were to actually be intentional about inviting someone along when you do that one thing? So now, when you know you’re going to have some free time in your busy schedule to play the guitar, go out fishing, or chill out with some video games, you are going to take the opportunity to bring someone else into it.
Now, watch this… It’s going to get even crazier (I’m being a little sarcastic). When you have that downtime with someone else there, what if you were to take a portion of that time to not only teach them about your favorite hobby, but to also spend some time talking about their spiritual lives?
That’s not as difficult as it might sound. Take some time asking where they’ve seen God show up in their lives, what are their struggles in their faith, or what direction do they feel God is pulling them in. But, it could also be as simple as volunteering some of that information yourself – what if you were to simply mention how Jesus has made a difference in your life this week? Or if you were to be vulnerable and share some of your doubts or concerns about God’s will in your life?
Honestly, discipleship can be this simple. It doesn’t have to be a formal sit down meeting – it can be two (or more) people doing something enjoyable, but at the same time having some purposeful conversation about how their lives are growing closer to Jesus.
This is similar to what we saw the early Church do in Acts 4:32-33…
32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all.
These Christ-followers made sure they were close with each other, they shared what they had, and at the same time they shared stories of how they’d seen Jesus work.
What if we simply shared our time and favorite activities, while sharing those great stories of how Jesus guides our life?
