In 1992 I was invited to attend a spiritual retreat. I had no idea what to expect. Was I in for a surprise! It was my understanding that people from many different faiths would be there. We sat around tables as we listened to talks and then discussed them. I quickly noticed that I was the only one with a Bible at my table except the leader. That seemed strange to me.
It was a very eye opening. The teaching was painfully basic for me but others were drinking it in. That weekend, while out of my comfortable church environment, my eyes were opened to the spiritual condition of the church as a whole. Simply put, they were Biblically illiterate with a shallow relationship with Christ at best. My heart was broken as I listened to their conversations. I had taken for granted my rich inheritance and the wealthy deposit of God’s Word in my heart over the years.
On Sunday morning after breakfast I just couldn’t stand the burden in my heart so I retreated to the chapel to pray. I failed at trying to hold back the groans of pain in the spirit as I pleaded for His people – the church. I felt His grief, His pain, His burden for the church and it was overwhelming.
During that experience the Lord gave me a vision of the church its inability to face the coming tide of evil. Their need for knowing the Word and experiencing a deep relationship with him was painfully apparent. Thus the passion for discipleship was ignited in my heart.
That passion still burns deeply but it has been like swimming upstream to get the message across to the body of Christ – the need to have an intimate relationship instead of just fire insurance. There is so much more God wants us to experience than just coming to church on Sunday and serving in the nursery. Those are good but He wants us to really know and experience Him and then pass it on.
Today Jess asked on Facebook, “What do you want to leave behind?” I want to leave disciples passionately in love with Jesus carrying the torch for His Word and knowing Him. Disciples, who are living, dynamic examples of the transforming power of Christ to be whole, igniting the passion in others just as I have.
An old song says, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going …” Let’s be the spark.
Lord, give us a passion to be fully devoted disciples who are so dynamic others will want what we have in You. Give us the vision to pass it on by making disciples.
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