Last Sunday we started a new teaching series looking at discipleship in the gospels - starting with Jesus' call to follow me (Matthew 4:18-22). We've been looking recently on here at resolutions and so often our resolutions involve things that we do. In the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) Mary models the behaviour of the true disciple - sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to him; whilst Martha is so busy serving that she misses the point.
And yet spending time with Jesus does require us to do something. Getting to know him better will not happen all by itself.
We know that reading the Bible and prayer are disciplines that will help us know Jesus better. Maybe that's why these are two of the commonest (if not the two most common) resolutions amongst Christians every January. But how do we ensure that our 'doing' does not get in the way of our 'being'? How do we approach a series on discipleship without slipping into the illusion that discipleship is about doing all of the following better or more...rather than about being about following a person, Jesus?
As I've been thinking about this over the past few weeks I have been reminded that even human relationships don't just happen - they take effort on our part. Think about the friend who moves away, and the promises to keep in touch etc. Sometimes we do, but sometimes we're lucky if we remember to send a Christmas card. It takes an effort to keep in touch, to make space to meet up and spend time together. I guess it comes down to a question of priority.
Marriage preparation courses deal with the effort that we will have to make in order to make a marriage work. That feeling of 'fuzzy round the edges love' alone is often not enough. It's not just about being - it's also about doing.
But what is the motive for our doing? That I guess is the key.
