Before God ever wants you to “do” something for Him he wants you to “be” something with Him!
When Jesus came to fulfill His mission of making disciples, He knew He needed to start by teaching a handful of people what it means to be a disciple. Once Jesus made some disciples they could, in turn, build more disciples. Jesus understood that being always leads to building.
Being a disciple is best explained in what is referred to as the Great Commandment. In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The Great Commandment is all about being in right relationships. The first goal of a disciple is not doing; it is being rightly related to God, to yourself, and to others. When you are being rightly related to God, self, and others, you will naturally help others to experience the same thing. Doing comes out of the overflow of being!
A question well worth asking is this: Are you being the disciple Christ wants you to be? Are you being rightly related to God? Are you being rightly related to you? Are you being rightly related to the other people around you?
I’ve known plenty of Christians who are so busy doing for God that miss out on being with God. If you suddenly stopped all of the stuff you do for God, what would happen? How would you feel? Would you feel like you were missing something or would you still be fulfilled?
Over the years I have come to understand being a disciple as having a right relationship with God, with myself, with my family, with other believers, and with the world around me. For me, being a disciple is all relational. When any of these significant relationships in my life are not right, I know I am not being the disciple that Christ has called me to be.
