Discipleship Letters 77-78

Discipleship Letter 77                                    March 07^th, 2010

The following story illustrates the gift of a handicap (NIV: “a thorn in my flesh”) God has given us. [Taken from Peter L. Scazzero with Warren Bird, The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), p. 119.]

There once lived a water carrier in India. He used two large pots for his task. He suspended a pole across his neck and attached a pot at each end of the pole. One of the pots had a big crack in it while the other pot was perfect. The perfect pot always delivered a full portion of water from the stream to the master’s house, while the cracked pot arrived only half full each day. For two years this water carrier made the same journey. The perfect pot became proud of its accomplishments. The cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. Finally, one day by the stream, the cracked pot spoke to his owner about his bitter failure, “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize that I have only been able to deliver half my water to your house. There is a crack in my side which causes water to leak out. Because of my flaws, you don’t get full value from your efforts.”

Then the water carrier replied, smiling, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice that beautiful flowers along the path.”

On that trip from the stream, the cracked pot looked around.

“Did you notice there are flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?” the master commented. “That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we passed these spots, you watered them. Now for two years I have been able to pick those beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, I would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

It’s the exact same way God works through our brokenness.  

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Discipleship Letter 78                                    March 14^th, 2010

Dallas Willard writes:

What to do now! Convert the world? No. Convert the church? “Judgment,” it is famously said, “begins at the house of God.” It has the divine light and divine provisions, and because of that is most responsible to guide humankind.

But “no” again. Do not “convert the church.” Your first move “as you go” is, in a manner of speaking: Convert me.

If we wish to convert the church and the world, we begin with ourselves. That is something that can, with divine aid, be undertaken with clarity and effectiveness, once we understand discipleship to Jesus and how it works. Our Maestro never told us to convert the world or to reform any religious organizations. He did tell us that, when filled with him, we would bear witness of him “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Witnesses are those who cause others to know. They wit-ness. They are not manipulators—no need of that—though what they do is radically transformative. [Taken from The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship (Oxford: Monarch: 2006), p. 225.]

Jesus said, “Make disciples.” He said it at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. Before saying it, He first converted these broken individuals to broken disciples who will then witness to, not convert, the church and the world.

“Convert me so that I can witness” is every disciple’s prayer.