Attitudes for discipleship. . .

So, here's some thoughts from my contribution to the Titus 2 discipleship panel, Three A's of Discipleship; first, I think Attitude is essential if our ambition is to please the Lord in any discipleship endeavor. Here's four worthy attitudes, four which I'm still working on. . .
Thankful: occasionally I think of women with well defined jobs, jobs with titles recognized as worthy pursuits, and then I'm tempted to wonder, what do I really do. . .? But then I review Titus 2:3-5, and I'm immediately thankful. God is so good to put women to work, to define our work for the kingdom-this isn't a second hand life, you know! The apostle Paul was "well pleased" to impart the gospel and his life to the Thessalonian believers-and so am I.

Humble: As I share my life with younger women, I remind my heart, Clothe yourself with humility towards one another (1 Peter5:5). . . afterall, discipleship is one beggar giving another beggar bread-we're both beggars, both need the Bread of Life; my trials, struggles, sins are no different than yours'-my life circumstances may wear different clothes, but our God never changes, and matters of the heart are the same. Preparing for a meeting, I remind myself, "I am going to learn something about God from this girl today!"


Dependent: I remind myself, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. . ." (Prov 3:5-6). I think there's a bit of trembling in every heart as we anticipate a discipleship opportunity- that's good, moment by moment dependence on the Lord, for we are certainly weak women! When I ride with the bicycle group in my family, they tell me, "No Coasting Allowed!". . .indeed, and that's true for discipleship. For you see, I've known the Lord for almost 40 years- I can sound pretty good; there's always the tempation to coast. I'd best spend dedicated time in the Word, in prayer and preparation-or I may just give out garbage disguised as bread.

Loving: So, the Lord has put a wonderful girl in my life; I am eager to know her, to share the Savior, to share my life with her. But just as mothers we love our children with an undescribable affection, there are times when they provoke us to irritation, to impatience, and more. It's like that with discipleship too- so first I deal with my own sin and pray, "Lord, give me a love for this dear woman." And sometimes loving means saying the hard thing-recently a woman thanked me for meeting with her and for saying the hard thing; I didn't even realize I was saying the hard thing. . . (hmmm, maybe I'm getting better at that one!)