Small Steps into Discipleship to Christ: God's Love

I had been pondering discipleship to Christ, hoping to clear the muddy water a little bit.  I began writing some ideas, but found myself floundering a bit.  As with a mucky pond, sometimes the best way to see clearly is to let it settle.  Recently a friend reminded me that walking with God is more about hitting singles than a home run.  I felt a settling.  I wanted to share some ideas that would make discipleship to Christ accessible to small steps and yet also transforming to our lives.


God loves you.  If you don't get this, nothing else will work in discipleship to Christ.  When the famous verse says, "God so loved the world,"  we often think of God standing over the globe, with hands outstretched, somehow wishing it well.  Although God is over and above and beyond and bigger than our world (actually our universe), he is never watching "from a distance."  He permeates this universe much like our spirits permeate our own bodies.

"God so loved the world" indicates God's closeness, his intimacy.  He is "especially fond" of each of us.  He is closely involved in every person's life, to such a degree that even the very hairs on our head are numbered and that he knows what we will ask before we ask him.  These are statements not so much of God's omniscience, but of his intimate knowledge of each of us.  He knows and he cares.


This is good news.  Actually it is the good news of the Christian faith.  If anything comes before this, we get in big trouble.  God seeks to save each person because he loves each person.  I am not saved so I can go to church.  I am not saved so I can save other people.  I am not saved so I can keep other people from suffering. I am not saved so I can become a better person.  I am not saved so I can love God.  While all of these are wonderful outcomes of salvation, I am saved because God values and loves me.  I could not be lost unless I was worth finding.

The word "For" in "For God so loved the world" indicates this is the reason statement.  It states the "why" in this particular passage.  I believe it goes beyond that as well.  It is the reason for everything: creation, the Fall of humanity, Israel's history, redemption through Christ, heavenly life, etc.  It all happens because God so loved the world.

This is good news because it cuts through all the other reasons and focuses each life on a single point.  So many things are good.  So many things seem necessary.  But when it comes down to it, the only thing that really matters is just you and God.  When that is right, everything comes around right.  When that is wrong, everything comes out wrong.

Over and over again discipleship is about being reminded and realizing God's love for you.  There is enormous freedom in it.  Nothing else matters compared to this love.  Without this as the primary reason, discipleship will either fade into mere sentimentality or harden into some form of self-righteousness.  Discipleship is primarily living in the light of God's love.  God's love is for you as an individual above all else. He doesn't love you because of anything.  He just loves you.  And deeply.

Do you live with God "at a distance?"  How often does God make his love known to you?  In what ways does he show it?  One person wrote "Ninety percent of the time God speaks to me through the Bible.  When he speaks, ninety percent of the time he tells me how much he loves me."  Is this similar to your experience?