Disciple-making in the Rough

What is the best way to follow Jesus’ command to “make disciples” in the context that we live in? That is a really honest thing to ask.

I have been thinking about this lately, but the answer came to me when I visited one of the men I was discipling while he was carving a giant, 100,000-pound boulder. He was showing me his granite sculpture and was describing how he planned to use some of the basic shapes that already existed in the rock. He then showed me how the boulder also contained cracks or fractures that happened to be in ideal places so he could remove unwanted material and reveal his masterpiece. DJ marveled at the fact that God put those fractures there long before the artist chose that rock to carve; maybe even at the creation of the earth.

When we endeavor to disciple or mentor a person into becoming more Christ-like, we have to take into consideration their pre-existing “shape” or “cracks.” It is not our job to change them or require them to be something that God never intended them to be. Our job is to come alongside, work with them, and allow the Holy Spirit to remove the “unwanted material” that is in their lives. This will reveal the masterpiece that God has created them to be. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

-SEND North Team Member