Author: Chuck & Deb

It was going to be a long night — especially since there would be no sleep involved. On top of that I had missed dinner. I was looking at the double whammy of sleeplessness and hunger pains for the next 12 hours. But just as I had resolved to be miserable for the duration, my friend Randy and his wife Carol brought me a huge home cooked fried chicken dinner. Randy had taken me under his wing and was discipling me. One of the things he was good at was seeing a need and meeting it. He showed me how to be a servant and love people into the kingdom. I ate that meal more than 30 years ago and I’ve never forgotten that act of kindness. Jesus calls His disciples to serve those around them in powerful ways. Let’s serve others the way He served us.

When I ask people “What is the Christian’s ultimate purpose in life?”, the number one answer I get is “To glorify God”. I would whole heartedly agree with that answer (Isaiah 43.7, 1 Corinthians 10.31). Amazingly, when I ask “How does one do that?” the answers are usually pretty vague. Jesus gives us both a clear answer and example of how to glorify God. Jesus said, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” (John 17:4) But Jesus had not yet gone to the cross. What was the work He accomplished? In the context, it was raising up obedient disciples (John 17:6–7). Just two chapters earlier, He tells them (and us) how we can glorify the Father: bear much fruit. (John 15.8). In other words, if we want to do what almost every Christian says we ought to be doing, “glorifying God”, a clear and surefire way to do that is by being and making disciples of Jesus!

Have you ever tried to take a grilled cheese sandwich apart? I dare you. Just try and separate the bread from the cheese after they have been grilled together. You end up with a grilled cheese messwich. That’s exactly what happens when you try and separate being a disciple of Jesus and obeying His word. According to Jesus Himself, there’s no such thing as a disciple who doesn’t study, know, and practice His word. To illustrate this, I ask guys to hold up their hand in front of them, as I do the same. Then I ask them to follow the motions of my hand with theirs. It’s really pretty easy. Then I ask them to close their eyes and follow my hand. Impossible! You must be able to see Jesus in order to follow Him. To see Him today, we must get into the Word. Then we can adequately follow Him. Make it a daily habit to read the Scriptures.

It has finally happened to me! The uncontrollable urge to tell everyone I meet about my grandchildren. I used to think this was an annoying quirk I had to endure when I was around old people. But now I’m finding that even as a young guy, I’m having a blast! I’ll even show pictures to perfect strangers! I don’t have to work hard at bringing the grandkids into the conversation. I’ll just naturally cram it into what ever we’re talking about. Jesus says His disciples are a lot like zealous grandparents – they want to make sure everyone around them knows about the Kingdom of God. They will go across the street or across the ocean. They will talk to a friend or a foreigner. They will tell you about the King and His rule morning, noon, and night. Grandparents and disciples of Jesus have one thing in common – they will tell you about their passion!