The Starting Line

If we are to accept Christ’s discipleship call, we must embrace the entirety of his process, and that includes intentional investment into our spiritual conditions. Instead of allowing that to discourage you, be encouraged that God Almighty isn’t through with you yet (Phil. 1:6), and he is wholly committed to seeing you through it all (Eph. 2:10). Could you ask for anyone more qualified to be in your corner?

As people who have been saved by the gospel of Jesus, we are meant to go with the gospel of Jesus. When God provides opportunities to proclaim truth to others, it is phenomenal to see how He uses imperfect efforts to transform lives. Sharing the good news will lead others to legitimate saving faith, but the job is not complete at that time. While we rejoice in those moments, we don’t rest afterward.

Salvation is the starting line – not the finishing line. 

Once a person is saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8), the journey is just getting started. It is not merely time to shift focus onto another evangelism prospect when the previous one is no longer endangered by eternal punishment. If we really prioritized evangelism, we would disciple each new convert so that our evangelistic efforts would experience multiplication rather than just mere addition. We must do more than convince converts; we must develop disciples. In reality, many Christians fail to do the task of evangelism because they were never truly discipled. If we want our evangelism to increase, we must address our discipleship. It is difficult to give something away that you don’t possess yourself.

Before making disciples of all nations, we’d better start by attempting to make at least one. It is time to get acquainted with the starting line. Are you ready to take this Great Commission seriously and personally? Regardless of your fears, I promise you that you can make a disciple. I never promised that you could earn a theological degree, hone a teaching mastery, or memorize a curriculum, but I do believe that you can use your life for discipleship purposes. To make a disciple successfully, we have to get back to the simple yet distinct approach.