When asked, the first of our answers was, “intentionality.”
A question posed to the Veritas staff men, with whom I was having lunch, was, “What would it take for someone to name you (years from now) as a person who deeply impacted them spiritually?”
“Intentionality,” someone said. Purposefulness. Determination.
Purposelessness wouldn’t do it. I suppose we’d call it aimlessness. Or lack of direction. Maybe even senselessness. Or disobedience.
Yeah, it doesn’t make sense to ignore what we call The Great Commission.
It doesn’t make sense to fritter our time away or to ignore the Apostle Paul’s directive to “make the most of every opportunity.” (Eph 5:16)
Maybe a mom can positively impact her kids inadvertently due to a huge amount of time together. That’s great for a family, where the younger generation watches the older generation live out their becoming-like-Jesus life 7 days a week. To make disciples requires tons of time or intentionality; sometimes both. I suppose it can happen accidentally in a family. But, discipleship isn’t that informal.
Plus, even if informality gets a “pass” in our homes, the Bible doesn’t instruct us just to make disciples of our kids and grand-kids.
How can we be intentional?
What if you prayed every day for a month for God to put the name of a growing disciple on your mind? What if you prayed for the following 30 days for God to identify a specific way that He could impact their spiritual life through you?
Maybe the name is someone in your Connection Group. Or in your neighborhood. Or, maybe it’s a granddaughter or nephew.
Maybe the way is a weekly get-together. Or teaching in a kids’ classroom in tandem with your spiritual brother or sister. Or maybe one-on-one Bible book studies. Or maybe share and pray together daily over FaceTime.
The who and the how do matter. But, what matters the more is the intentionality.