Do You Believe What You Are Capable Of?

Raise your hand if you've compared yourself to another Christian (hand raises).

Worship music hums in the background, our kids finally asleep, the Bible lay open, and my heart is prepared and eager to receive something profound.

Do you ever have those quiet times when it seems like everything has fallen into place? A Jesus moment where one waits expecting a radical encounter with the Lord? Standing in that space, I was suddenly faced with a question in my study which asked, how can you use your gifts and experiences to help others be more like Jesus? Now, any hopes for a radical encounter were lost, because I wasn’t even sure how to answer the question. My brain spins searching for profound experiences or interesting stories, coming up short of glamorous or revolutionary. 

Then I realized, this is where so many Christians allow their growth to come to a standstill. 

 I hit the roadblock of, "What can I lend? I don't have an exciting story. There are already so many Christian influencers out there with enormous platforms, I would be a drop in the ocean trying to share the gospel.” In my walk, I have experienced two major roadblocks hindering me from growing into the active disciple Jesus intended, and that I have seen other Christians battle against. 

1. I was taught by multiple churches that salvation was mine, for me to relish in individually and personally, and I could hope in the promise of heaven for myself. Christianity and salvation started with Jesus, but ended with me once I accepted it, and there was nothing more. 
2. I had become convinced that my testimony, my voice, was too small to have an impact. If I wasn’t reaching foreign countries or thousands of online viewers, what difference was I really making? Kingdom works were big scale business, not small town movement.

 Debunking my misconceptions, we see that Jesus was incredibly intentional to make sure the good news of salvation spread. 

- “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it can give light to everyone in the house.” Matthew 5:15

Not only should we live a life that resembles Jesus to others, but we are called to take it a step further, and show others how to resemble Him themselves.

-”Go and make disciples of all nations.” -Matthew 28:19

But it's not the story that makes the disciple. It's not the wow factor or pristine presentation that characterizes the called. Whatever story you are comparing yours to, there's one common factor, Jesus. And the encouraging part is He is the single most important part of your story that matters. Being a relational disciple means that I have a longing for lost brothers and sisters to know their Father, my Father. So what can we do to break through these roadblocks to reach them? Most importantly, we remember that it is not by our strength, but the Holy Spirit who desires and promises to break down these walls. He will do his part, so what does our part look like?

1. Search the scriptures for what the Lord says about your worth. Return to the one truth to reclaim your value with an eternal perspective. 
2. Seek relationships with other Kingdom minded disciples. It is difficult to keep Jesus to yourself around others who live to share Him.

It's not the story that

makes the disciple.

 When I consider the people in my day to day, who is in relationship with them? They may see other Christians through a filtered screen, but who is the one doing life with them? When we decide to pursue Jesus's model as a relational disciple, we must redefine our sense of worth according to who God says we are, so that we don’t stand in the Spirit's way of working through us. We truly are, above all, a vessel; a jar of clay for the Holy Spirit to take up residency in and go to work doing what it does best, saving us as individuals and rescuing the wandering. 

When we remember that Jesus sent out a group of the seemingly random and unexceptional, we can more confidently walk in the great commission assigned to us all. It is so much more than worship music accompanying the Lord’s word. It is hearing His word, and going to work doing what He tells us to for the sake of life change.