"Becoming a Disciple" (Part 4)

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14 NIV).

The third part of the process is surrendering to the direction of the Holy Spirit. We’ve already talked about hearing from God and the importance of walking in obedience, now we see the last of the steps. Each of them is progressively more difficult. To hear from God should be as natural as breathing for the believer. He has made it so with the countless revelations in nature, life, and the Scripture. Walking in obedience is a little more difficult, although there are so many opportunities to do that in our daily lives that God has made that possible as well. Think of each of the people you contact each day; a smile or a kind word is walking in obedience to God. The last, however, is tough. The natural man is bent toward rebellion, self-centeredness, and independence. To surrender to the direction of the Holy Spirit means that we fully give ourselves to Him. I love the way Jesus puts it:

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62 NIV).

Bruce Larson, in Believe and Belong, tells how he helped people struggling to surrender their lives to Christ: “For many years I worked in New York City and counseled at my office any number of people who were wrestling with this yes-or-no decision. Often I would suggest they walk with me from my office down to the RCA Building on Fifth Avenue. In the entrance of that building is a gigantic statue of Atlas, a beautifully-proportioned man who, with all his muscles straining, is holding the world upon his shoulders. There he is, the most powerfully-built man in the world, and he can barely stand up under this burden. ‘Now that’s one way to live,’ I would point out to my companion, ‘trying to carry the world on your shoulders. But now come across the street with me.’ “On the other side of Fifth Avenue is Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and there behind the high altar is a little shrine of the boy Jesus, perhaps eight or nine years old, and with no effort he is holding the world in one hand. My point was illustrated graphically. We have a choice. We can carry the world on our shoulders, or we can say, “I give up, Lord; here’s my life. I give you my world, the whole world.”

It is more difficult, but it is more fulfilling as well. Are you carrying the world on your shoulders, straining under the load? Become a real disciple and surrender to the Holy Spirit in your life!