“The monumental task of mentoring.”

“Make disciples.”

 

To fill the Earth by making babies is the will of God for his creation and pleasure was the bonus for the obedience of his created people. All you needed was to be alive.

 

To fill the New creation by making disciples is also the will of God and it is as honorable as being like Jesus. “As the Father has sent me, so send I you.”

All you need is to have Life.

 

Remember, anybody can be alive but not anybody has Life. Life is not an estate of being but a person, which is Jesus.

 

Most of procreation is done under the cover of darkness but discipleship is done in broad daylight. In the name of love, one is done as well as the other but one can be faked but the other cannot.

 

The will of God for his followers is to make disciples. The provision of God for his followers is his life given presence in them full of power and authority.

 

Consider the following verse: “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.

 

Obedience to the will of God in both cases is an impossible task apart from the provision of God. The seed in procreation is from God just as the seed for discipleship is from God. The word sperm is used in scripture to refer to the Word of God, which is the seed of God.

 

Just like in procreation a man goes out to sow his sperm, in the same way in discipleship the man goes out to sow the Word of God in disciple making by talking about the sperm of God made flesh that is Jesus and teaching them everything he taught and commanded them.

 

Jesus in this passage teaches that in order to make disciples Jesus must be in you, beside you, over you, underneath you and all around empowering you to leave your influence by being with them in Jesus. “Jesus chose twelve to be with him.” Being with people is what discipleship is all about. There is no shortcut to discipleship. You must incarnate Jesus to people.

The tragedy among humans is that in our idolatry we have replaced the blessed by the blessing making out of sex a lifeless god. 

 

If Evangelism is equal to the day of birth, then discipleship is equal to raising a child. Job was a success story raising successful children but he never lowered the guard and he agonized in prayer for his children.

 

Jesus himself returned from the dead to charge his disciples with the Great commission. Relationship with Jesus was never meant to be a one-night stand but a lifetime commitment and beyond. You might be the only Gospel that people will ever see.

 

Do not wait until you are perfect to disciple. Look at me. I am far from perfect but fragile in the flesh. Only Jesus was perfect. It is not in your perfection that people see Jesus but the other way around. When you are weak then you are strong.

 

Remember that you are a zero and those to whom you are mentoring are also zeros. Jesus is the number one. Unless you follow Jesus you remain worthless. Your worth is in Jesus. Hallelujah and Amen. 

 

Gerry Gutierrez.

 

PS. Lois Cidolfa my comfort and joy.