Desire, Decision and Determination

Desire, Decision, Determination

IN A TIME, LONG LONG AGO, Gary Adams would say to me, "This is what the Bible says about that. What do you think Christ is thinking right now because of what you just did?" Conversations, interjected with phrases similar to this, were common to me in the first few years after accepting Jesus as my Savior. And depending upon how I responded to questions such as these, determined which path available to me upon which I would travel. At times, no, most of the times, okay, all of the times, someone would use words like that, it was painful. Maybe not physical pain, but emotional pain nonetheless. In those days, we referred to these types of conversations as discipling times, whereupon usually one of two people would be using the Bible to 'rebuke' another; to help convince that person that the actions or thoughts they were having were hurting Christ even more, and endangering that persons opportunity to spend the rest of eternity with God.

These events have not occurred in my life recently. Maybe my beautiful wife would correct me on several of my faulty actions, but no one else, on the whole, has done so. I am kinda left out there to fend off satan by myself. I am disappointed in the way the church has relaxed its position on the 'art' of discipling. I believe that James 5:16 should be a verse we are reminded of very often. Without other people in my life, people with the same spiritual goals as myself, I believe I may not make it. Life is tough out here.

How about you? Do you feel the same way, or do you believe you can handle your walk with God, and with satan, by yourself? If you think you can, I disagree. I tend to agree, however, with many church leaders, that maybe the church should not be the organization that 'sets up' those opportunities to receive this kind of Biblical counseling. By this I mean, probably the church should not revert to assigning people to one-another, as what we called, discipling partners. When that occurred, we felt pressured to rebuke others as well as getting rebuked ourselves. It shouldn't be that way. But because the church is probably not going to create "D-partners", I think that we, as individuals, should be seeking out folks as just that, to help us find our way to Heaven.

To desire to be rebuked is not natural. No one really wants to hear about what he or she is doing wrong. Even James, the blood brother of Jesus agrees with that statement. As recorded in his book, in chapter 12, verse 11, he says: No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. But when we look at the results of that rebuking, it should instill a desire within us. Many of us cried when we heard or read the medical accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus. Many of us know that the narrow road to heaven is filled with potholes and we can easily fall into those, or go off the sides when avoiding them. And we also may finally realize that we need other people in our lives to help us navigate that road. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, there just doesn't appear to be the desire to make that happen. We want our freedom to do as we see fit ourselves, and being rebuked by others is not considered a freedom. I firmly believe, however, that there must be desire that comes from the Scriptures that call us to be involved in each others' lives and desire that comes from personally seeing how much each of us needs what God wants to provide. Those Scriptures are abundant, if you think about it. The fear of hell, the disgust of sin, the glory of Heaven, all should be factors that build a desire within us to want to be 'discipled' by someone. Do you have a desire to get to heaven? How about one to get rebuked?

Once (if) that desire becomes great enough, the next step is to make that decision to act, and find someone to help you. Making decisions is an occurrence every day in your lives. Many are simple, some are difficult. This decision, while maybe not easy, is certainly not difficult either. However, there must be a decision. We need to decide that we were going to set aside the time for this kind of relationship building. Life is demanding. It will swallow us up. It will carry us along. It will fill up all our time. Unless we sit down and make a decision and a commitment, good intentions will not come to fulfillment. Are your ready to decide to do this? Do you have someone in mind who you can call today, to start being your 'discipler'?

Lastly, after deciding that this path is probably one which will benefit you, you are going to require a determination to 'stick it out'. Oh so many times I have seen our church start an event and never follow it to completion. Every once in a while, a preacher will say that we are going to be doing lessons on a certain book in the Bible. It starts off great, but generally, because of other events others in the church deem more important, that original series of events is halted. I have seen it over and over. Members are asked for their inputs and suggestions. We give them, we hear nothing of them. Ourselves, we start projects on our own, but oft times do not complete them. That is because of the lack of determination. Even after a decision has been made there will be many things that will interfere and sidetrack us, unless we have a determination born of deep conviction. Our convictions need to be based upon Biblical facts. "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21) That is a fact that should help with our determination. As you read about sin, the cross, heaven and hell, you should also be able to find lots of reasons to stay determined to keep on getting discipled. An occasional rebuke, in most cases, is not good enough. They should be constant, but intermingled with encouragement and genuine love.

In those long lost days, rebuking between assigned discipling partners was taken more as a requirement, or an edict, as laid down by the laws of our church. That was wrong. No doubt. However, the intent was genuine. To help us become better disciples. Today, in order to become that, we should be seeking out people to help us. We should desire the rebukes we are sure to get, and deserve. We should make a decision soon, before it is too late, to get SOMEONE in our life to help us get to Heaven. And lastly, we should stay determined throughout our entire earthly life to stay committed to this Biblical teaching. If we do all three, our chances of pleasing God will increase exponentially.