disciple - cmi sealed orders #5 - "who do you think you are?"

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:35

Dave Simmons tells about a day he took his kids to a local mall.  His daughter Helen was eight years old and his son Brandon was five.  On the way into the mall, they saw a sign for a petting zoo.  Both kids begged to go inside.

The father gave each kid a quarter and they disappeared into the zoo, wanting to spend every moment possible with the furry creatures.

After a few minutes in the store Simmons turned around to see Helen patiently waiting for him. 

He asked her, “Why aren’t you at the petting zoo?”

She replied, “It costs 50 cents, so I gave my quarter to Brandon.”

After the shopping was done they both stood outside the fence, watching Brandon on the inside run with glee from goat to rabbit and back again.

Knowing his daughter loved animals, Helen’s dad waited for her to ask for another fifty cents.  But she stood quietly and patiently, watching her brother enjoy the animals. 

In a small way that day, Helen had learned the lesson of sacrificial love.

On the night before Jesus was handed over for suffering and death, he told his disciples, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

And in the next few hours he gave up everything, not just to provide salvation for us, but also to show what real love was all about.

What do you have that you are willing to give up to show love to someone?  In what small way can you show how much God loves them?

Use the remaining moments to ask God to continue to disciple you and to show you something that you can give up to show love for someone in your life.

Guest Post: Take the Land (Life Lessons from Chess) by Paul Fleeman

 

This is a guest post by Major Paul Fleeman, Principal of The Salvation Army's College for Officer Training in Chicago.  It is part of a series that he has agreed to have posted on my blog.

TAKE THE LAND
Major Paul Fleeman

Key Bible Verses: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28: 19-20)

A chess board is made up of 64 squares. One of the goals of the game is to spread as much influence as you can over the board with your chess pieces. It goes without saying, if you control more than half of the squares, you have an advantage. If that advantage is enduring, you have greater potential for winning. You have to look into the future a bit.

As Christians, we have received a mandate to spread Christ’s sphere of influence everywhere possible, encouraging others to become disciples. That sphere of influence becomes enduring as we practice what we have been taught with the full understanding that Christ will be with us to the very end.

My response: Lord, today show me someone I can help take one step closer in becoming a disciple.

Thought to Apply: “Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin.”  (William Booth)

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