"make disciples . . . teaching them to observe all that I commanded you"
Mt.28:19
When I was just a few weeks old my father he took me outside one night, lifted me toward the heavens, and said, "God I give you this child to preach the gospel." I was in shock when he told me this when I was in my forties, because until he was in his sixties he lived an agnostic, immoral life.
I listened as he continued his confession, "Then I went about doing everything I could to make you into the image of what I thought a man was, and that image was not what a man of God is. I spent my life doing everything I could to turn you away from God, and into a worldly man and I am so sorry."
I thought of that conversation as I shared a cup of coffee with a friend. He talked about a season of disobedience when he led his family away from church. He said he still read the Bible and prayed during that season, but his decisions had consequences in the lives of his family members.
I said, "I guess we are always making disciples, one way or the other. We are always leading people toward something." He talked about several families in his church who had become engrossed in weekend activities for their children, how these young families had drifted.
He had talked to several of the fathers. Each of them justified their choices. Each said that the sports leagues or other activities they were giving their lives to had positive implications for their kids and their families. Each of them talked about the other "Christians" who were doing the same.
We are always making disciples. The only question is, whose disciples are we making? If we lead our families away from public worship, small groups, service to our local churches, and devotion to the Lord and his people, there are consequences. There are many positive things in the world, many opportunities to create memories. Many things instill better-than-average values, but we are not called to better-than-average.
We are called to make disciples of Jesus Christ. He is not better-than-average. He is all that is good and perfect. He is the object of our faith, the goal of our discipleship. He alone offers eternal and abundant life. Every decision we make is a discipleship decision. It is either toward him or away from him.
Every person is responsible for his or her decisions. No one is fated by bad parenting to live a life of immorality. Our heavenly father is greater than any earthly father or any other earthly influence. God alone transforms, but we are part of his plan of transformation. While others are responsible for their choices, we are, too. We are always making disciples. In Christ, we are set free and empowered to make the kinds of choices that lead other toward him.