READING: Mark 3:13-15
If you know me at all, you know I’m an introvert. I do believe introverts can do well in ministry (see this blog post), but it’s far too easy for us to keep our distance from relationships. It’s tough, frankly, to do discipleship when you’d rather be by yourself.
Our changing world doesn’t make this task any easier. Mark Dever, in his book, Discipleship, makes this point: “Today is the day of iPhones and iPads, iTunes and—let’s just say—the whole i-life. But is there any space in the i-life for the we-life of Christianity?”* His question is on target for Americans in particular, who live such insulated lives that we don’t always know the neighbors who live next to us or the brothers and sisters who sit on the same pew with us. We’re “lone ranger” Christians—and that’s the opposite of what the Bible expects.
God is a relational God who created us to worship Him and fellowship with Him. He made us in such a way that we need others (Gen 2:18). Jesus commanded us to love one another (John 13:34), and the early church illustrated a sacrificial, sharing love toward each other (Acts 2:44-47). They knew they could not accomplish the immense task of the Great Commission as individuals doing the work by themselves.
That reality hasn’t changed. If we want to be Christlike disciplemakers, even we introverts must build relationships.
PRAYER: “God, push me outside of myself to develop relationships with others – particularly with some folks I might disciple.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 1 Samuel 14:15-16:23, Luke 18:24-19:10
*Mark Dever, Discipleship (Wheaton: Crossway, 2016), 12.
