Episode 49 - Leaning Into Our Discipleship

Perhaps you’ve heard the expressing of “leaning into” something.  This is a common expression that signifies deliberate effort.  

 In this episode I look at what it means and how to lean into our discipleship as we daily walk with our Master.  

I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.

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Transcript

Hello friends, I'm your host Dave Laton and welcome to the podcast, Walking With Our Master, an outreach of the Prattville Church of Christ designed to inform, encourage, and teach as we daily walk with our Master. 

 In this episode I want to look briefly at the idea of leaning into our discipleship.

 The expression “Leaning Into” has been around a long time.  It is commonly used in sports to describe how to improve performance.  For Example, a baseball hitter is coached to lean into his swing to gain more power.  Or someone running in a race will lean into the wind to keep up a strong pace.  I’ve even heard it used in a farming application about having a team of mules lean into the harness of a plow.

 To lean into something means to actively engage with, embrace, or pursue it, often with determination and effect.

 It implies a proactive and enthusiastic approach rather than a timid or hesitant one.  I want to break down that definition to see more of what it means.

 Active engagement means to willingly and fully participate.

 Embracing challenges means we meet challenges head-on with determination and perseverance.  (Luke 9:51 states that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.  He knew what awaited Him but was focused on His mission of our salvation.)

 Pursuit of goals means focusing on making progress and reaching success.  

 Leaning into something involves learning and developing from experiences to gain new insights and grow from them.   

 Overcoming obstacles means facing difficult situations and not letting them detour us from our path.

So, we understand the concept of leaning into something.  Let’s apply it now to our walk as disciples of Jesus.

 Our Lord commands us to lean into our discipleship.  In Matthew 10:37-38; 16:24-27, Luke 14:25-33 Jesus tells us that the cost of following Him is that we must be willing to put Him first ahead of everything in our life.  This includes our wealth, family, and something we might not think about, we must put serving Him ahead of our concerns and problems.  This is a difficult lesson for us to learn and truly takes a lifetime of effort.  But remember, being a disciple of Jesus is the most important thing.  

 And concerning the issues in our life that cause us stress, I want to remind you of two passages Jesus teaches regarding just those kinds of things.

 The first in in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-34.  Jesus teaches us to not be anxious.  He presents an image of the things around us that God created.  He then states that if God takes care of these, he will also take care of us, even more.

 The other verse is Matthew 11:28-30.  In this passage Jesus invites us in a very warm and encouraging way to bring our burdens to Him.  He states that He will carry them for us.  And to replace those burdens with taking on following Him.  

 I mentioned these two verses because the issues in our life are significant and we feel we are alone in times of stress and trouble.  The truth is that we are not alone.  As disciples of our Lord we can trust Him to help us deal with them.  And a part of that is that we have our fellow disciples there to help us.

 I want to come back now to the point of this episode, leaning into our discipleship.

 In Matthew 19:16-30 a young man came to Jesus to ask what he needed to do to gain eternal life.  Jesus told him to sell all he had, give it to the poor, and come follow him.  He knew the young man had great wealth and was dependent on it.  The young man went away saddened because he was unwilling to give up the wealth to become a disciple of Jesus.

 To lean into our discipleship, we actively embrace and prioritize the principles and commands of Jesus in every part of our life.  It is a lifestyle, a way of thinking and behaving.  Again, it’s difficult to be consistent but achievable as we spiritually mature.

 Leaning into our discipleship also means we seek a closer relationship with Christ.  We also seek to continue growing in our knowledge of Christ as we grow spiritually.

 And last of all, we seek to make disciples of others.  This is an indicator of our spiritual maturity.  We enthusiastically and continually seek to share Christ with others.  It becomes an overwhelming desire as we lean into our discipleship.

 I invite you to look at your discipleship of our Lord.  Could you describe it as leaning into?  I hope so and encourage you to double down on your efforts.  It’s what our Master expects of us.

 Well friends, I'm your host Dave Laton.  Thank you for joining us in this podcast.  I hope you will continue to do so. If you wish to share with me something from your walk with our Master or you would like to learn more, please email me at:

walkingwithourmaster@gmail.com.

 I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.  And until next time, remember, we give all glory to God the Father.