You Can’t Give Directions Until You Know Where Someone Is

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Generalized approaches can never adequately address distinct disciples. If someone has never expressed this thought to you before, you need to be aware – you are entirely unique. Some people can relate to you, but no one is exactly like you. In order to see legitimate discipleship take place in your life and in the lives of those around you, we cannot depend upon widespread methods hoping to address the specific needs of everyone. It is time to get distinct in your discipleship.

As you sit and read this post, you arrived at your specific location by some path. You might be meeting on your church campus, inside a home, or at some other gathering place, but you used some means of transportation to arrive where you are seated right now. Imagine that someone wanted to join you and asked you this simple question: “Can you tell me how to get to your Bible study next week?”

To help guide your friend, what is the next question you must ask?

You cannot give directions to a person without knowing his or her starting place. None of us can help someone arrive at a destination without first knowing the place of origin.

  1. Did you take a left or a right out of your driveway to get here?
  2. How many minutes did it take you to get here?
  3. What road did you travel on for the majority of the trip?
  4. Was this building on the left side or the right side of the road when you approached?

We all got to the same place, but we didn’t come by the same path. The same is true with discipleship.

If the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed you, your glorified destination is none other than heaven, but your sanctified trajectory will be different from those around you.

  1. Who first introduced you to Jesus?
  2. How many years have you been following Jesus?
  3. What made you desire to join this study?
  4. What kind of turn do you hope to make in your spiritual journey?

Even in these simple questions, we process a simple truth – we are all in a different place spiritually. We each have unique turns that we need to make in the near future. So, let’s begin to discover the next set of directions.