Today we conclude our 14 day devotional look at hearing God’s voice and living out a missional discipleship. I sincerely hope that these devotionals were informative and that you allowed them to challenge you in your walk with God. I truly believe both are necessary aspects to personal revival and enrichment.
KNOWING ONESELF
In Untamed, Alan Hirsch notes, “Insecurity in who we are, in our capacity to achieve, in our contribution to society, and invariably in our relationships plagues all of us to varying degrees, making us wonder whether we are worthy, capable, lovable, and the like”. That being noted, as Christ’s disciples, we must be secure in who we are – knowing our identity and the outworking of our identity. Consider the following quotes that remind us that outside of truly knowing God, truly knowing ourselves in impossible:
“Our authenticity, as well as our power, is unleashed when we live out our true identity and calling in Christ”. – Alan Hirsch
Blaise Pascal quotes “Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves.”
“We cannot know ourselves unless we know God first”. – John Calvin
“Our hearts are restless until they find rest in God” – Augustine
I rather enjoy the “holistic worldview” that Alan Hirsch explains, wherein our discipleship is not seen as suppressing who we are or our desires, but rather in “redeeming and directing our passions” for the glory of God. Alan Hirsch goes on to explain that we must “…look at salvation as theosis, the process of increasingly becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), rather than as a once off “get out of hell free card”.
LIVING AUTHENTIC & INCARNATIONALLY
“To be a follower of Christ does not mean to imitate literally but to express Him through the medium of one’s own life…The task of the Christian consists of transposing Christ into the stuff of his/her daily existence”. – Romano Guardini
I don’t believe the word authenticity can be used too much when it comes to our necessary discipleship. We must honest endeavor to know God, know ourselves, and others. Alan goes on to say, “If we withdraw ourselves from the drive to know and be known by others, we damage our capacity to be authentic and healthy humans, let alone disciples”. We should always be asking ourselves – Who am I? Where am I going? Who will go with me?
“We need to get close enough to other people that our lives rub up against their lives, and that they see the incarnated Christ in our values, beliefs, and practices as expressed in cultural forms that make sense and convey impact”. – Mike Frost
Alan Hirsch writes, “If missional is our being sent into the world, then incarnational must define the way we engage the world”. We must creatively incarnate the Gospel, remember Him who we follow – “Jesus deliberately changed the order of things in His day, instituting the kingdom values of mercy, grace, and forgiveness over the rules and regulations of Pharisees. We must do likewise”.
So…are you living Untamed? “As disciples we are called to an untamed existence…we are meant to live wild and dangerous lives, flying above the heads of our generation, calling them to the authenticity of what they were created to do”
I do hope you have discerned the “7 love languages” on hearing God’s voice, discerned your part in the five-fold ministry structure, challenged your discipleship to become more authentic and missional, and desire to bring glory to God in all that you do.
By His continued mercy,
Pastor Michael Miano